Gaza is the new face of death and destruction. The biggest hospital in Gaza reported that a “mass grave”  at the  facility held the remains of 179 individuals, including infants and critically ill patients. 29 patients in critical condition and seven babies were buried, after the hospital’s fuel supply ran out, according to  Mohammad Abu Salmiyah, director of Al-Shifa Hospital. 

Due to a lack of proper medical supplies and other amenities, premature babies delivered in the Gaza Strip during the present Israel-Hamas conflict are dying as hospitals are finding it more difficult to function at their optimum level.

According to the death toll provided by the Palestinian authorities on Monday, November 13, two patients and a premature newborn have passed away at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. Throughout the facility, there was an overwhelming smell of decomposing bodies.

There are remains all over the hospital complex, and the mortuaries have no electricity left. “We were forced to  bury them in a mass grave,” he continued.

The shortage of treatment and health examinations is seriously endangering the lives of these seventy cancer patients, according to Mai al-Kaila, the health minister for the Palestinian Authority.

The life of thousands of babies, who are the most defenseless beings on earth, has been claimed by the war.  As the Al-Shifa Hospital lacks incubators and other medical supplies needed to care for premature deliveries, newborns there are seeing firsthand the horrors of war.

According to a Reuters inquiries, the infants are kept side by side and are often wrapped in green cloth that has been forcefully taped around them to provide warmth. Pictures released by the news agency depicted a few infants with only diapers, an image of utter despair with  each minute that passed towards more danger.

Some social media posts stated that some kids were delivered by C-section from dead moms, quoting Medhat  Abbas, stated a spokesman for the Gaza Medical Ministry, which is governed by Hamas.

The chief of Al-Shifa’s pediatric department, Dr. Mohamed Tabasha, stated in a phone interview on Monday that the situation is grave: “Yesterday I had 39 babies and today they have become 36.”

Premature newborns reportedly weigh less than 1.5 kilogram apiece, and in some circumstances, as little as 700 or 800 grams.

These kids, according to medical professionals, ought to be kept in incubators with adjustable humidity and temperature levels to suit each baby’s particular needs.

Many Gaza Hospitals attacked to destroy Hamas

Hamas and Gaza’s health authorities have refuted Israel’s claim that the terror group uses hospitals and patients  as human shields. In another incident, Israel said it had found a tunnel from the house of a known Hamas operative into another hospital.

Al-Shifa hospital

Israeli tanks have gathered outside the Al-Shifa hospital’s gates amid claims by Tel Aviv that the establishment  is hiding an underground Hamas command “node”. 

The largest hospital in the area, Al-Shifa in Gaza City, which has 700 beds, was declared “dire and perilous” by the WHO. The hospital had suspended operations.

According to the health ministry operated by Hamas, at least 2,300 people remain inside the hospital, including up to 650 patients, 200–500 staff, and about 1,500 civilians who are looking for refuge.

This figure includes the number of infants being held at the location in a surgical theater.

Fighting breaks out between Israeli forces and Hamas in the nearby streets. The UN claims that damage has been done to critical infrastructure.

Israel claims that Hamas fighters are based in tunnels beneath the hospital; Hamas disputes this.

Employees inside claim that leaving would put one at risk for injury or possibly death.

Al-Ahli Arab Hospital

At least 500 people died after the Gaza City’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital was bombed in mid October.

The Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital’s director, Subhi Sukeyk, stated that the medications had run out more than a month after the conflict began.

Sukeyk said Al Jazeera that “specialized treatments for cancer patients, such as chemotherapy and treatment that combines several medications, cannot be provided.” “There is no safe place in Gaza at all, but some patients were transferred to Dar Essalam Hospital in Khan Younis, which they say is safe.”

On November 10, Dr. Tedros of the WHO stated that the hospitals in the Gaza Strip were “working way beyond their capacities.”

Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, staff in Al-Ahli in northern Gaza, told the BBC that although the facility was now accepting all injured patients from Gaza City, it lacked the capacity to handle the volume of patients.

He claimed that every ten minutes, ambulances carrying injured patients would arrive at the hospital, and medical employees would not have access to a blood bank because it would be encircled by Israeli tanks.

“We don’t have an x-ray technician and we are short of medication to the point where we’re having to do extremely painful procedures on large wounds to keep them clean with no analgesia, no anesthetic,” he stated.

Al-Quds hospital

The Palestinian Red Crescent reports that the second largest hospital in the Gaza Strip has collapsed with its operations.

The Palestinian Red Crescent claimed on Saturday that 500 patients and about 14,000 displaced people—mostly women and children—were locked inside with its teams.

It further stated that a “evacuation convoy” headed for Al-Quds hospital from Khan Younis in southern Gaza was forced to make a detour due to “relentless bombardment”. It also stated that food, water, and electricity were unavailable to people stranded in the hospital.

On Saturday, Doctors Without Borders announced that it had lost touch with a surgeon who was working and taking refuge in Al-Quds along with his family. According to a Red Crescent spokesman, the hospital has been shut off with “no way in, no way out” for about a week, and there have been continuous attacks on the surrounding neighborhood.

Al-Rantisi & Al-Nasr, northern Gaza City and

Al-Sweidi (Swedish) clinic.

All patients and personnel were evacuated from the Al-Nasr hospital, located in the northern part of Gaza City, and the  Rantisi Specialized Hospital for Children on Friday. The sole pediatric cancer ward in Gaza was located in Rantisi.

Concerning the hundreds of displaced civilians locked up at the two hospitals, the hospital official remarked. At 11:20, the Israeli soldier instructed them to depart by the main entrance and went into great detail about the streets they needed to walk on in order to get out of Gaza City. Additionally, he instructed the hospital representative twice to ensure that civilians were wearing white to indicate that they were not fighters.

In its Sunday night update, the UN’s office for humanitarian affairs stated that an airstrike on Saturday had “hit  and destroyed” the Swedish facility. It was reported that there were about 500 individuals taking refuge there, with a “unclear” number of casualties.

According to 65-year-old Maryam al-Arabeed, Israeli forces pulled everyone out of the facility on Sunday night after entering. At that point, she claimed to have seen “an Israeli bulldozer completely demolish the building”.

She told the BBC news agency, “They separated the women and children and took the young men out, including my three sons.” She goes on to say she had no idea where her boys or other family members were.

On October 7, Hamas attacked a music festival in Israel where thousands were gathered for a rave in desert, killing around 1,200 people.

In vengeance, 11,240 people have already died as a result of the assault from Israel, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, the majority of them were civilians and at least 40% were children.