Gaza’s Shifa Hospital struggles to care for injured Gazans after Israel destroyed last fully functional hospital

Al-Shifa Hospital, which has been damaged in the course of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, is struggling to provide medical care for patients and injured Palestinians in Gaza City, following an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, its Director said on Monday.

An Israeli warplane fired two missiles on Sunday into the Baptist Hospital, the last fully functional hospital, causing damage to the facility and putting it out of service. The hospital served over a million Palestinians in northern Gaza, Anadolu Agency reports.

“Al-Shifa Hospital is currently operating at a capacity that does not exceed 25 per cent,” Mohammad Abu Salmiya told Anadolu.

“Despite its limited capacity, the hospital has become the primary facility receiving the wounded and sick after Israel bombed the Baptist Hospital,” he added.

Al-Shifa Hospital has been largely damaged after a deadly Israeli raid on the facility in March 2024, amid its onslaught in northern Gaza.

READ: Israeli attacks put all hospitals in northern Gaza out of service

Abu Salmiya said there are two other hospitals, Al-Quds Hospital and the Red Crescent Hospital, still operational in southern Gaza.

“Their capacity, however, is limited and cannot absorb the large numbers of wounded and sick people,” he added.

The Israeli army has systematically targeted civilian facilities, including hospitals and schools, during its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army also renewed a deadly assault on Gaza on 18 March, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

Nearly 51,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

READ: Israeli strike on Gaza hospital ‘ugliest form of genocide’: Palestine