'Deep concern' for patients and staff at Gaza's al-Aqsa hospital

[CharlieH]

 

Doctors from the UK who have been working at what they say is the only functioning hospital in the central Gaza Strip have told the BBC of their "deep concern" for patients and staff remaining there - as fighting between the Israeli military and Hamas has reportedly intensified in nearby areas.

Deborah Harrington, an obstetrician who has been working at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah with the British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), said the fighting meant there has been "a real decrease" in the number of staff able to work at the facility over the past two weeks.

At the same time, she said some 600 to 700 patients were still being treated inside the hospital daily, and that hundreds of displaced people were sheltering there or in the immediate vicinity.

"Without any functioning or sufficient healthcare staff, it will be an unmitigated disaster for those people living in Middle Gaza," another member of the team, surgeon Nick Maynard, told the BBC.

When asked about the reports, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the BBC: "The forces closest to there are 1.5km (0.9 miles) away and there is no activity there."

 

Hospitals are specifically protected under international humanitarian law. Any military operation around hospitals must take steps to spare patients, medical staff and other civilians inside them.

On Sunday, MAP and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) announced that their staff had been "forced to withdraw and cease activities" as a result of what they called "increasing Israeli military activity around the al-Aqsa Hospital".

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, also said it had "received troubling reports of increasing hostilities and ongoing evacuation orders near the vital al-Aqsa hospital... which according to the facility's director forced over 600 patients and most health workers to leave".

He stated that al-Aqsa was "the most important hospital remaining in Gaza's Middle Area and must remain functional, and protected, to deliver its lifesaving services".

"Further erosion of its functionality cannot be permitted - doing so in the face of such trauma, injury and humanitarian suffering would be a moral and medical outrage," he warned.

 

FULL STORY

 

[Morch]

Quote

Hospitals are specifically protected under international humanitarian law. Any military operation around hospitals must take steps to spare patients, medical staff and other civilians inside them.

 

How about mentioning what happens to this 'protected' status when a terrorist group uses the premises? This BBC piece is pretty light on mentioning Hamas. It's almost as if this war got nothing to do with it.

[thaibeachlovers]

5 hours ago, CharlieH said:

"Further erosion of its functionality cannot be permitted - doing so in the face of such trauma, injury and humanitarian suffering would be a moral and medical outrage," he warned.

and yet, nothing is done. The world's "leaders" mouth the right words and do nothing. Shame on them all.