Hospitals in Gaza say they are under attack and running out of fuel for ICU patients
Some hospitals in Gaza say they are under attack as heavy fighting and explosions over the last 24 hours have continued amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
Targeting civilians is against the laws of war, but Israel maintains that Hamas uses civilians as shields. International organizations have decried the shellings in retaliation for Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack, which killed more than 1,400 in Israel. The death toll continues to mount in Gaza with 11,078 dead as of Friday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest medical center located in Gaza City -- where thousands of wounded people are being treated and thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering -- reported large explosions nearby Friday morning, staff told ABC News and in video verified by ABC News.
Many people are attempting to flee the violence including hospital staff like surgeon Sara AlSaqqa. AlSaqqa sent two messages to ABC News on Friday saying, "We evacuated" and "This is a nightmare."
Dr. Ahmed Mokhallalati, head of the plastic surgery department at Al-Shifa, said the hospital had been shelled and that the staff has "enough fuel for generators until tonight, when about 100 patients on respirators in adult ICU and neonatal ICU will die" if more fuel does not arrive.
It's unclear where the attack came from. Video verified by ABC News showed Palestinians in the area injured after the attack.
Mokhallalati said he is not leaving the hospital and told ABC News between 15% and 20% of hospital personnel are currently working.
There were two incidents at the hospital on Friday morning, according to videos verified by ABC News. In one incident, a shell hit the refugee encampment outside of the hospital entrance. Verified video from the area showed a spent shell identified by Marc Garlasco, a military advisor with the Netherlands-based PAX Protection of Civilians, as an illumination round. Garlasco said Gaza-based militants do not use these weapons. In the second incident, several injured people were seen at the outpatient clinic where people also appeared to be sheltering.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was responsible for s strike that hit the outpatient clinic. The IDF has denied carrying out the strike.
At Indonesia Hospital in northern Gaza, explosions occurred just outside of the hospital nearby on Thursday evening, according to the Indonesian foreign ministry. Video filmed from the doors of the Indonesian hospital and verified by ABC News confirmed explosions occurring outside.
The hospital opened seven years ago, built with funding from Indonesia's Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, as a "symbol of cooperation" and to help strengthen the relationship between Indonesia and the Palestinian people.
Meanwhile, staff at Al-Rantisi Children's Hospital, in western Gaza, said they were barricaded inside the complex and unable to leave. It's unclear if they are barricading themselves or if they are being barricaded.
"We have been surrounded in the hospital since yesterday and Israeli tanks are stationed around it," the director of the hospital told ABC News. "We are on the verge of a disaster, and we are unable to provide even the slightest medical services to patients. We appeal to international organizations to protect workers and displaced persons in the hospital."
On Friday, the International Red Cross (ICRC) released a statement demanding that patients, health care workers and medical facilities in Gaza be protected amid the escalating attacks.
"The destruction affecting hospitals in Gaza is becoming unbearable and needs to stop. The lives of thousands of civilians, patients and medical staff are at risk," William Schomburg, head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza, said in a press release.
"If there is a hell on earth today, its name is northern Gaza," Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday. "People who remain there, the corners of their existence are death, deprivation, despair, displacement and, literally, darkness."
The IDF repeated claims it has previously made that Hamas uses hospitals as cover. Hospital officials in Gaza have denied those claims in the past.
"The IDF does not shoot at hospitals," IDF spokesman Richard Hecht said on Friday. "If there are Hamas terrorists in the hospitals, the IDF will do what it needs to. But we are aware of the sensitivity. We tell Hamas to move the sick southward."
He continued, "We will not attack a hospital. We won't disclose how we will do it, but slowly we are closing in on them and taking every precaution not to harm the innocent."
The latest violence comes as some children with cancer and other blood disorders have been evacuated from Gaza as well as their companions, the World Health Organization (WHO) and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital said on Friday.
About 12 children have been sent to Egypt and Jordan to continue their treatment with additional children expected to be evacuated for cancer treatment soon.
"I am relieved that children in vital need of cancer care have been able to leave the insecurity and uncertainty in Gaza and continue receiving life-saving treatment in Egypt and Jordan," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a statement. "This show of desperately needed humanitarian action should serve to motivate increased access to life-saving care to all people affected by this conflict, both inside Gaza where needs are greatest today, and beyond. I pray this initiative can inspire all parties to put health and peace first."
In 2022, 122 children in Gaza were diagnosed with cancer, mainly leukemia, according to the WHO. The conflict had prevented patients from receiving medical supplies in the Gaza Strip, including chemotherapy, the WHO said.
Of the two hospitals in Gaza that were providing specialized cancer care, one has closed while the other remains partially operational.
"The two specialized hospitals … have been overwhelmed, undersupplied, exposed to attacks and, due to the insecurity, one has been forced to close," the WHO said in a press release. "Cancer care services are therefore severely limited, meaning it is critically urgent to transfer patients outside Gaza for treatment."
ABC News' Camilla Alcini, Matt Gutman, Dada Jovanovic, Christopher Looft, Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
