Hospitals, clinics, and kitchens are closing, and moving injured people on routes congested with debris and crowded with migrants is difficult.
According to charity workers, Israel’s onslaught in the southern city of Rafah has severely disrupted medical and humanitarian services, forcing many relief programs to relocate to other areas of the Gaza Strip and leaving only one hospital open.
The city’s health care situation has worsened due to ongoing conflicts and strikes that have claimed the lives of several citizens, forcing the closure of emergency clinics and other services.
The Gazan health ministry reports that 45 people were killed on Sunday when a camp for the displaced in Rafah was set on fire by an Israeli-claimed attack that was directed at a Hamas facility. The ministry reported that a second attack occurred on Tuesday near Al-Mawasi, on the outskirts of Rafah, and left twenty-one dead and many injured.
Among the relief initiatives that have closed this week are World Central Kitchen-operated kitchens, a clinic backed by Doctors Without Borders, and a field hospital managed by the Palestinian Red Crescent.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, 19 relief organizations stated, “As Israeli attacks intensify on Rafah, the unpredictable trickle of aid into Gaza has created a mirage of improved access, while the humanitarian response is in reality on the verge of collapse.”
Due to Israel’s designation of a portion of the region as a humanitarian safe zone, many civilians and relief workers relocated to Al-Mawasi, where some of the activities that were forced to relocate took place. Following the attack on Tuesday, the Israeli military declared that it had not shot in that area. The New York Times-verified videos show that the strike occurred outside of the zone, but yet close to it.
Aid workers have observed that because many Gazans have restricted access to cell phones and the internet, it might be challenging for them to know whether they are in a designated safe area.
People are being slaughtered. Drastic warfare and ceaseless airstrikes are besieging the places they are being forced into, despite assurances to the contrary from Doctors Without Borders secretary general Chris Lockyear.
The health ministry of Gaza’s spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qudra, demanded additional field hospitals in Rafah, more border crossings for relief supplies, and secure pathways for evacuation.
“The consecutive massacres in Rafah and in northern Gaza cannot be handled medically,” he declared.
Rather, emergency services are ending. According to Nibal Farsakh, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Red Crescent, the hospital in Al Quds was evacuated last night due to its proximity to recent strikes and artillery fire in Al-Mawasi.
According to her, medical staff is now packing up their supplies and attempting to go farther north, outside of Khan Younis.
According to her, seven ambulances from the Red Crescent are still in use in Rafah. “Where do they go, though, is the problem,” she continued. “This number of casualties cannot be handled by any hospital.”
Though they are fully overburdened, aid workers in Rafah believe that about five field hospitals—mobile medical institutions that frequently employ tents—are still in operation. In Tal as-Sultan district, where intense fighting led Doctors Without Borders to close a clinic, the only remaining conventional hospital is a maternity facility.
It’s difficult to even bring the injured to a location where they can receive medical attention.
According to Ms. Farsakh, “the streets are full of displaced people on the move and even more full of debris from the destruction.” “We may be going through our hardest experience yet.”
Israeli officials encouraged citizens to move southward into Rafah during the majority of the almost eight-month battle, increasing the city’s population to about 1.3 million prior to the invasion. According to the U.N., around a million people have had to escape once again in the previous three weeks.
According to recent claims from representatives of the World Health Organization, patients in need of immediate medical attention outside of the Gaza Strip have been stuck for three weeks since Israel took control of the Rafah border with Egypt.
The World Health Organization reported on Wednesday that it has successfully imported fuel and medical supplies to satisfy the requirements of about 1,500 patients at the Al Ahli hospital in northern Gaza City. However, the 19 relief organizations stated that “Gaza’s health system has been effectively dismantled,” indicating a dangerous general trend.
