Testimonies filter with difficulty from the Palestinian enclave, under Israeli fire since October 7 and the deadly Hamas attack. franceinfo was able to contact a doctor at Al-Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza.
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His daily life is now punctuated by the sounds of bombings, which he hears every day and which have intensified since Friday October 27. He sees the consequences in the corridors of Al-Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza, where he works. “We normally have a capacity of 700 patients, but today we are treating more than 800 injured people. 42 are in intensive care and our emergency services are overwhelmed by the number of victims who continue to arrive”says Dr. Morwan Abu Sada.
Located in the center of the Palestinian enclave, in Gaza City, now virtually besieged and considered a “battlefield” by Israel, the hospital continues to open its doors to the many wounded or to civilians who have no other choice but to go to the hospital to try to find refuge. According to Hamas, a third of the city’s hospitals and nearly two-thirds of its health clinics are closed because of the damage they suffered, while the Israeli army claims that Al-Shifa serves as a refuge to Hamas. It has also intensified its bombings in its surroundings.
“We lack basic equipment”
So, Morwan Abu Sada gave himself a mission: to continue providing treatment despite everything. He treats on a daily basis injuries due to bombings, injured people who suffer significant trauma, but also fragile people in a state of advanced dehydration. If the doctor was able to evacuate some patients to other hospitals, it is impossible for him to tell new arrivals to go elsewhere. But it is very difficult to help them. “We lack basic medical equipment such as instruments, but also painkillers or drugs to perform anesthesia. And above all, we lack space”he worries.
He has been waiting for weeks to be supplied, but help arrives in trickles. Like many of his colleagues, Morwan Abu Sada finds it increasingly difficult to be optimistic: “I think that we are not far from a total collapse of our health system. I hope that we will not reach that point, but it is very difficult to provide care in the face of ever-increasing needs. and more important.”
He promises to continue to hang on, but fears that the coming weeks will only see Gaza sink further into humanitarian catastrophe.