Gaza hospitals 'completely out of control' after Israeli missile strike kills hundreds

Healthcare system in dire situation as thousands of wounded and displaced people seek shelter in overcrowded hospitals

An aerial view of the complex housing the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City in the aftermath of Tuesday night's blast. AFP

People inspect a church on the premises of Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City where hundreds of Palestinians were killed in a blast that Israeli and Palestinian officials blamed on each other. Reuters

A woman among the debris outside Al Ahli Arab Hospital in central Gaza. AFP

People at Al Ahli Arab Hospital in central Gaza. AFP

The scene at Al Ahli Hospital after an air strike in Gaza City. EPA

A doctor at Al Ahli Hospital after an air strike in Gaza city. EPA

Emergency services search the rubble at Al Ahli Hospital after an air strike in Gaza city. EPA

Palestinians wait for treatment at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city after being wounded in an air strike that killed at least 500 people at Al Ahli Hospital. AP

Ambulances and private cars rushed about 350 casualties from the blast at Al Ahli to Al Shifa, Gaza City's main hospital. Reuters

Children in an ambulance on the way to Al Shifa Hospital. Reuters

Al Shifa Hospital was already overwhelmed with wounded from other strikes. Reuters

A wounded Palestinian on the floor in Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. AP

Hundreds of Palestinians had taken refuge in Al Ahli and other hospitals in Gaza City, hoping they would be spared bombardment. AFP

The explosion at Al Ahli Hospital left gruesome scenes. EPA

Many of the victims of the blast at Al Ahli Hospital were young children. AP

A wounded Palestinian woman is taken for treatment. AFP

Wounded Palestinians wait for treatment. AP

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The situation in hospitals throughout Gaza is "completely out of control", a health official said early on Wednesday after a missile strike on an overcrowded hospital killed hundreds of people and injured many more.

More than 3,000 people in Gaza have been killed and at least 12,500 injured since Israel began bombing the strip on October 7.

Hospitals are struggling to cope with the influx of wounded and displaced people looking for shelter.

Supplies of medicine, fuel and even water are running dangerously low under the "total siege" imposed by Israeli forces.

"The situation is completely out of control in all hospitals in the strip," said Mohammed Abu Salimah, director of Al Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

"We are conducting operations without general anaesthesia."

The situation is awful, said Nagham Mohanna, The National's contributor in Gaza.

"People have set up tents around the hospital, there is rubbish everywhere, the smell is horrific," she said.

Authorities fear outbreaks of disease as corpses and litter pile up and thousands of people seek shelter there.

"Civilians have nowhere to go, there are no services working to clean up the streets and devastation of the strikes," Mohanna added.

Doctors denounce strike on Al Ahli Hospital as 'war crime'

The World Health Organisation had previously said health centres in northern Gaza were operating far beyond their capacity, with tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians sheltering inside.

The situation was exacerbated overnight when an Israeli missile struck Al Ahli Arab Hospital, known locally as Al Mamadani Hospital, in Gaza city.

The blast killed more than 500 people and injured many more. Israel has denied responsibility and said the blast was the result of a failed missile launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group.

Doctors who are already struggling to cope has condemned the bombing as an act of cruelty.

“We are overwhelmed. We are struggling to help the victims,” said Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, who works at Kamal Adwan hospital in the north of Gaza.

“We can’t deal with the large number of deaths and injuries.

“Most victims are women and children who were sleeping in the hospital.

“We expect more hospitals to be bombed. There is no safe place in Gaza.”

Physicians at the hospital have refused to leave, saying it could put the hospital's patients - many of whom are children - at risk.

MedGlobal, a non-profit medical organisation that works in Gaza, denounced the bombing of Al Ahli Hospital as a war crime.

“The bombing of the [Al Ahli] Baptist hospital is the worst attack on a medical facility in the 21st century,” said Zaher Sahloul, a critical care specialist and president of MedGlobal, which sends volunteer medical teams to support hospitals and clinics in Gaza.

“Its cruelty and the death toll of innocent patients, civilians and the healthcare workers trying to save them is staggering.

“Bombing hospitals is against international law. It is a war crime.”

Dr Sahloul said the bombing undermined medical neutrality and the 150-year-old Geneva Convention that specifies under no circumstances can hospitals, medical units and mobile medical units be attacked.

“It compounds trauma in the Gaza Strip, sending the message that nowhere is safe, not even inside a hospital,” he said.

Some of the wounded were being taken from Al Ahli Arab to Al Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza, adding to pressure on the healthcare system.

Israel ordered an evacuation of the northern half of the Gaza Strip, where 22 hospitals cater to 1.1 million people in Gaza City and its surrounding areas, ahead of an expected ground invasion.

The WHO said such an evacuation was impossible because of the numbers of people involved and warned it could be especially dangerous for injured patients.

"Forcing more than 2,000 patients to relocate to southern Gaza, where health facilities are already running at maximum capacity and unable to absorb a dramatic rise in the number of patients, could be tantamount to a death sentence," it said.