- Gaza's hospitals "risk turning into morgues," officials and the Red Cross warned.
- Palestinian health officials said health services in Gaza have entered a "critical stage."
Gaza's health system is on the verge of collapse, and its hospitals soon "risk turning into morgues" as Israel continues its bombardment of the territory in response to the attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on the Jewish state, health officials and the International Committee of the Red Cross warned.
Palestinian health officials said Wednesday that health services in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas rules, have now entered a "critical stage" and that "medicines, medical consumption and fuel are running out."
"Hospitals are fully occupied with their clinical capabilities, and the wounded and patients are on the ground due to the intensification of Israeli aggression," the Palestinian health ministry said in a post on Facebook.
Fabrizio Carboni, the International Committee of the Red Cross' regional director for the Middle East, said in a statement Thursday that as Gaza loses power, "hospitals lose power, putting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk."
"Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues," Carboni warned. Carboni also urged "the sides to reduce the suffering of civilians," adding that families in Gaza are struggling to access clean water. "No parent wants to be forced to give a thirsty child dirty water."
A nurse at Shifa Hospital, which is Gaza's biggest hospital, told The Associated Press that "the body bags started and just kept coming and coming, and now it's a graveyard."
"I am emotionally, physically exhausted," Abu Elias Shobaki said. "I just have to stop myself from thinking about how much worse it will get."
Even before the war began, hospitals in Gaza were not well-stocked with supplies, the World Health Organization's regional emergency director, Richard Brennan, told The Guardian.
"It's almost as bad as it gets," Brennan told The Guardian. "It's not just the damage, the destruction. It's that psychological pressure. The constant shelling … the loss of one's colleagues."
The WHO said in a statement this week that it is working with Egypt to get critical supplies delivered to Gaza over the Rafah crossing, which has been closed to civilians, trapping them in Gaza.
The organization added that it is "gravely concerned" about the Israeli hostages that Hamas took captive when it began its attack. Israel has estimated that Hamas is holding between 100 and 150 people captive, the Washington Post reported.
Israel says that at least 1,300 have been killed on its side, and officials in Gaza say that at least 1,417 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In the aftermath of Hamas' deadly surprise attacks on Israel on Saturday, Israel retaliated, launching deadly air strikes on Gaza that have toppled residential buildings, universities, and mosques.
Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced on Monday that he has ordered a "complete siege" of the Gaza Strip and that electricity, food, and fuel would be cut off from the already impoverished enclave.
"Continued disconnection of the Israeli occupation of electricity, water, and fuel poses a danger to the lives of the injured and patients and causes a serious health and environmental disaster," the Palestinian health ministry said.
Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, told CNN on Thursday that all hospital beds are filled "leaving no room for new patients in critical condition."