Dr Ali Elaydi, a Palestinian orthopaedic surgeon who worked in Gaza, said he was “heartbroken” by the news that the UN was having to interrupt its operations in the Palestinian enclave.

He told Al Jazeera that the UN’s operations were “100 percent vital to the functioning of hospitals in Gaza” as its staff coordinate the delivery of medical supplies as well as missions by foreign health workers.

He said the development leaves him feeling “more helpless than ever before”.

Elaydi, who worked at the European Hospital that has now been forced shut, also expressed concern over Israeli evacuation orders for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and recounted what it’s like when patients and health workers have to evacuate a medical facility.

“As an orthopaedic surgeon, I was told to enable these patients to be able to walk as soon as possible in fear that an evacuation would be coming because those patients who cannot walk, cannot leave the hospital,” Elaydi said.

“And so I literally saw patients’ family members dragging them miles from the hospital that was forced to evacuate to a different hospital because there is no capacity, there is no infrastructure to help get these patients out. So everyone relies on their patients and if they can’t walk, they’re being dragged.”