A doctor who worked at a hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, says the situation there is desperate.
Haseeb Khawaja spoke in an online interview with NHK on Tuesday. He belongs to FAJR Scientific, an NGO providing medical treatment in Gaza.
The physician had been at European Gaza Hospital, a core hospital in Khan Younis, since June 13, but left after the Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Monday.
Thousands of patients and displaced people are believed to have been staying at the hospital.
Khawaja said he saw a person pushing a hospital bed on the road and another trying to walk with an external leg fixator. He said staff members were carrying as much equipment as they could in the evacuation, knowing the equipment would be damaged or destroyed.
Khawaja also reported some patients could not leave the hospital. He said it was heartbreaking to leave them behind while he evacuated.
The doctor said that before the evacuation, the space for treatment in the hospital was limited due to a large number of patients, and that there was a shortage of drugs, gloves and other equipment. He also said air conditioning was unavailable because of a fuel shortage, and that there were flies everywhere.
Khawaja said hospital staff could have saved the lives of some patients if there had been sufficient equipment. He said one patient died as no pacemaker was available. He also said other patients could not fully recover due to a lack of nutrition. He added many people had no place to go after being discharged.
Khawaja said the situation is “beyond words and there’s not much left here.” He also said he is pleading with anyone who will listen to do anything in their power to stop the attacks.