Southern Gaza run out of healthcare options, warns MSF
London, UK - Doctors Without Borders (MSF) expressed concern on Friday about the heavy bombing in southern Gaza, warning that vital medical services have collapsed at Nasser Hospital, the largest functioning health care facility in the enclave.
MSF said it deplores a situation in which ‘people have been left with no options’.
“The hospital’s surgical capacity is now almost non-existent, and the handful of medical staff remaining in the hospital must contend with very low supplies that are insufficient to handle mass casualty events – large influxes of wounded people,” said the international medical care organisation. It noted that at least one patient at the hospital died on Wednesday because there was no orthopaedic surgeon available. “Between 300 and 350 patients remain at Nasser Hospital, unable to evacuate because it is too dangerous and there are no ambulances,” it said.
Guillemette Thomas, MSF’S medical coordinator in Palestine, said that Nasser and the European Gaza Hospital are almost inaccessible and there is no longer a health care system in Gaza. “These systematic attacks against health care are unacceptable and must end now so that the wounded can get the care they need. The entire health system has been rendered inoperative,” she said.
The statement recounted an account by a nurse who was trapped inside Nasser who said there was no staff left in the emergency room.
“There were no beds, just a few chairs and no staff, just a few nurses,” said Rami, who preferred to use only his first name.
Meanwhile, Australia announced on Saturday that it would temporarily pause funding to a UN agency that provides humanitarian aid to Palestinians following allegations of involvement by some of its employees in the October 7 attacks on Israel.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement that Australia is deeply concerned over allegations that UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) staff were involved in the October 7 attacks.