#Gaza #AlShifa, we were able to speak to a member of MSF staff still inside #AlShifa hospital in Gaza city.
“We don’t have electricity. There’s no water in the hospital. There’s no food. People will die in a few hours without functioning ventilators.
In front of the main gate, there are many bodies, there are also injured patients, we can’t bring them inside.
When we sent the ambulance to bring the patients, a few metres away, they attacked the ambulance. There are injured people around the hospital, they are looking for medical care, we can’t bring them inside.
There’s also a sniper who attacked patients, they have gunshot wounds, we operated on three of them.
The situation is very bad, it is inhuman. It’s a closed area, no one knows about us. We don’t have an internet connection, you managed to call me now, maybe you’ll try 10 times before you can reach me again.
The medical team agreed to leave the hospital only if patients are evacuated first: we don’t want to leave our patients. There are 600 inpatients, 37 babies, someone who needs an ICU, we can’t leave them.
We need a guarantee that there is a safe corridor because we saw some people trying to leave Al-Shifa, they killed them, they bombed them, the sniper killed them.
Inside the Al-Shifa hospital, there are injured patients, medical teams. If they give us guarantees and evacuate the patients first, we will evacuate.”
MSF surgeon in Al Shifa: recorded at 8:10 AM (Gaza time) on 13 November 2023. Please note that situation in Al-Shifa is unfolding rapidly and these updates are time-sensitive.
We urge the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Member states of the League of Arab States, Member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation and the European Union who have repeatedly called for the respect of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) to take action to ensure a ceasefire now. The horrors unfolding before our eyes in Gaza clearly show that calls for restraint and adherence to IHL have gone unheeded. Working purposefully to reach a ceasefire is the most effective way to ensure the protection of civilians.
The Australian section of MSF was established in 1995 and is one of 24 international MSF offices around the world committed to delivering medical humanitarian assistance to populations in crisis. Every year around 150 Australians and New Zealanders are sent on assignment by Médecins Sans Frontières Australia. MSF delivers medical care based on need alone and operates independently of government, religion or economic influence and irrespective of race, religion or gender. For more information visit msf.org.au