Medical services are already stretched to breaking point in northern Gaza as Israel launches a ground incursion to occupy its largest city, health officials and aid workers said.
The Health Ministry in Gaza has urgently called for essential medical supplies and medicines to be delivered to hospitals due to “catastrophic” levels of depleted stocks.
The lives of many civilians, including premature babies, are at risk if hospitals and medical staff are not protected, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said.
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a charity working in Gaza, said it would continue its work despite increasing challenges.
“MAP is planning to stay and to continue our work in Gaza City for as long as our team are able to do so. However, they are facing an increasingly difficult and dangerous situation there with both the ongoing Israeli military attacks on residential buildings and the threat of forced displacement to the south,” MAP’s Gaza director Fikr Shalltoot said.
The charity’s work in Gaza City remains active but has also been limited due to movement restrictions, with many staff forced to work from where they are based and unable to conduct field visits, the group said.
Abdel Shafi Community Health Association (ACHA), one of MAP’s medical partners, said it had been forced to suspend operations at its headquarters in Gaza City after Israeli forces gave them a 48-hour deadline on Saturday to “evacuate” and move medical equipment to the south.
The ACHA facility houses critical medical equipment, including laboratory and diagnostic tools and one of only two CT scanners available in Gaza City.
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