Israel Destroys Al-Shifa Cardiac Ward as Relentless Bombardment Continues

November 12, 2023 Blog, News
Bodies are piling up outside the morgue of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

An Israeli airstrike destroyed the cardiac ward at Gaza’s Al Shifa Medical Complex in the Gaza Strip, according to a Palestinian official.

Munir al-Bursh, the director-general of the pharmaceutical department at the Gaza Health Ministry, told reporters that the Al-Shifa Complex was subjected to Israeli shelling, and its cardiology department destroyed.

Relentless Bombardment and Siege

The Israeli military continues its relentless bombardment and military siege of the largest hospital in the Strip, amid warnings of an imminent humanitarian catastrophe in the complex where thousands of patients and wounded and displaced people are trapped.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza told Al-Jazeera that doctors are unable to provide any life-saving service to the wounded and sick in the Al-Shifa Complex.

The spokesman added that two premature babies and a patient in intensive care already died due to the lack of oxygen and that they expect more to die.

According to the Palestinian official news agency WAFA, Israeli armored tanks are now near the main gates of the complex. 

Since Friday night, anyone moving between the buildings of the complex or even trying to leave has been targeted by Israeli gunfire, WAFA reported.

Dozens of dead bodies are reportedly scattered across the complex and its courtyard. The ambulance teams have been unable to reach them for evacuation due to the intensity of the Israeli bombardment and gunfire.

War on Hospitals Continue

The Nasr Hospital also has been under Israeli siege and bombardment for several days. Doctors, nurses, and displaced individuals have been forced to leave, leaving behind only patients and the wounded with no one to treat them.

Furthermore, Israeli artillery directly targeted the Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, creating panic among an estimated 500 patients and 14,000 displaced individuals who sought refuge there.

Since the beginning of the aggression on October 7, 198 healthcare workers and 36 civil defense personnel have been murdered by Israel, and more than 130 have been injured. Sixty ambulances, including 53 that are completely out of service, have been damaged.

Israel has, thus far, killed over 11,100 – including more than 8,000 children and women. 

(PC, WAFA, AJA)

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