The World Health Organization says northern Gaza has been left without a functional hospital due to lack of fuel, staff and supplies.
“There are actually no functional hospitals left in the north,” Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in Gaza, tells reporters via video link from Jerusalem, according to Reuters news agency.
“Al-Ahli (Hospital) was the last one but it is now minimally functional.”
Hospitals and medical facilities have been caught up in the intense fighting raging across the territory while also facing a lack of supplies and power shortages.
After a visit to al-Ahli on Wednesday, teams from the WHO and the UN reported that the hospital was overwhelmed with people needing emergency care and bodies were lined up in rows in the courtyard.
In a post on X on Wednesday, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said until two days ago, the hospital was the last place performing surgery in northern Gaza but the operating theatres were now no longer functioning.
Only four hospitals in northern Gaza were left, providing very limited care, he added.
