Maher Shamiyeh, the assistant undersecretary for Gaza’s health ministry, tells Al Jazeera that the Al-Shifa Hospital has been reduced to administering first aid and clinical care.
The hospital is the largest in the Gaza Strip but has not been functioning since the Israeli army targeted the medical complex last month.
“Al-Shifa Medical Complex used to represent 40 to 50 per cent of the total capacity of operations for the health ministry [before the war], but now it does not have electricity and is filled with thousands of displaced people,” Shamiyeh said.
“Yesterday we received 200 killed and 200 wounded,” he added. “Most of those injured need complicated surgeries.”
The majority of medical staff are in southern Gaza now, and cannot come back to Gaza City or northern Gaza because the Israeli army prevents anyone from doing so, he said.
