Crammed under makeshift canvas shelters in the car park, sleeping in corridors or on landings, passing the hours of the day in stairwells, hanging laundry on the roof — thousands of displaced Gazans are filling every space at Al Shifa Hospital, Reuters reports.

The main hospital in Gaza City has turned into a giant refuge for people whose homes have been bombarded, or who fear that they will be, in Israel’s military assault on the Gaza Strip, which is entering its second month.

“We ran from our house because of the heavy air strikes,” said Um Haitham Hejela, a woman sheltering with young children in an improvised tent fashioned from fabric, string and mats.

“The situation is getting worse day after day,” she said. “There is no food, no water. When my son goes to pick up water, he queues for three or four hours in the line. They struck bakeries, we don’t have bread.”

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