One-hour evacuation order of Al-Shifa a death sentence for hundreds of critically ill patients and displaced people.
Responding to the one-hour evacuation order of Al-Shifa hospital by Israeli forces, Riham Jafari, Advocacy and Communication Coordinator ActionAid Palestine, said: “We are appalled by reports that doctors and critically ill patients – including premature babies in incubators – are being forced out at gunpoint by the Israeli military.
“This morning we have seen chilling scenes of doctors taking patients in critical conditions on beds and wheelchairs out of Al-Shifa hospital – a death sentence for hundreds of people who will be forced to leave behind lifesaving care and travel miles to hospitals that are no longer operational. Day after day, doctors, nurses, and ambulance drivers are risking their lives to provide lifesaving care to patients whose lives are hanging on by a thread.”
Hospitals across northern Gaza like Al-Awda where ActionAid’s partners work are already overcrowded, out of fuel, and without the medical supplies they need to keep patients alive. With thousands of women giving birth over the coming weeks, many will now face life-threatening journeys to hospitals that cannot provide them with lifesaving care.
Dr. Adnan is a consultant and the head of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at Al-Awda Hospital. He said: "In the last [few] days, we have become the only hospital in the entire Gaza Strip and the north who receive obstetrics, cesarean sections and gynecology services. Because all hospitals in Gaza and the north, after the siege, lost any services for women and obstetrics.’
“Two days ago, we performed 16 caesarean sections under exceptional circumstances. There were cases of very severe bleeding and placental abruption as a result of difficulty in access, strikes etc. We worked under exceptional and very harsh conditions. We did not have blood transfusion services... Blood transfusion is very limited, the blood bank has been closed and is difficult to access.”
“We ask God Almighty to end this issue and stop [the] shooting and make room for humanitarian services to be provided to the people because people are suffering, and our women are suffering. There are many children [who] have lost their lives. There are premature babies born at 30 or 31 weeks and we do not have anything to deal with [their cases]. There are no artificial respirators, there are none at all. We look at a child after birth, [their] weight is 1200g, 1300g, 1400g or one and a half kilograms. We do not have anything to deal with them. We look at babies losing their life because we have nothing.
“In addition, there are women who suffer from postpartum bleeding and bleeding after operations and there are no blood transfusions at all. Two days ago, had a placental abruption case, and it was opened two or three times. We were trying to find two units of blood to compensate for what was lost. With difficulty, her life was saved.”
ActionAid is warning that the forced shutdown of Al-Shifa hospital and failure to provide an alternative for sick and injured civilians could be a breach of international humanitarian law.
Riham Jafari added: “The evacuation of Al-Shifa is yet another potential breach of international humanitarian law in a crisis where the rights of patients to access lifesaving care are being violated daily. Healthcare workers, ambulances, and hospitals are never a legitimate target – they must not only be respected but also protected under international law.”
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Contact the ActionAid press office on uk.media@actionaid.org or on 07753 973 486.
Riham Jafari, Advocacy and Communication Coordinator ActionAid Palestine, is available for interview on request.
Please contact the press office to arrange.
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ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 41 million people living in more than 71 of the world’s poorest countries. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.