The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has announced that Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City – the second largest in the territory – is now out of service.
In a statement Sunday, the PRCS said the hospital was “no longer operational. This cessation of services is due to the depletion of available fuel and power outage.”“Medical staff are making every effort to provide care to patients and the wounded,” despite “dire humanitarian conditions and a shortage of medical supplies, food, and water,” it added.
The PRCS said it “deeply regrets reaching this critical point despite efforts to prevent it. Repeated appeals for urgent international assistance, given the week-long siege and a five-day communication and internet blackout, have been unsuccessful.”
The hospital has been left to fend for itself under ongoing Israeli bombardment, posing severe risks to the medical staff, patients, and displaced civilians,” it said.The PRCS claimed that hospitals were under siege, an allegation that has been repeatedly rejected by the Israel Defense Forces.
It asserted that there is "only one operational hospital in Gaza and two in the north."On Saturday, the PRCS said in a statement that fighting around the al-Quds hospital had caused “panic and extreme fear” amongst the people inside.
Nibal Farsakh, director of the PRCS media unit in Ramallah, told CNN the organization's medics were trapped in the hospital, at which there was "heavy direct fire" and "which was "surrounded by tanks from all sides."
Asked about the situation at Al-Quds Saturday, the IDF said: “The IDF is in the midst of ongoing intense fighting against Hamas in the vicinity of the area in question, and unlike Hamas, adheres to the law by taking all feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians.”
Fears over hospitals: Intense fighting has also been reporting around Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa.
The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza said there was no food, water or electricity, and that patients and staff were unable to leave. Israel's military has denied laying seige to Al-Shifa, and would help anyone who wants to leave safely.
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