The United Nations health agency and the international Red Cross warned on Friday that hospitals in the Gaza Strip were being drawn into the fighting there and were fast becoming overwhelmed by the number of wounded.
”Shots were fired inside or around four hospitals in Gaza,” World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesperson Fadela Chaib said, while ambulances were attacked.
The WHO called on combatants to ”respect the neutrality of health workers”, she added.
”Hospitals lack blood supplies and are overwhelmed by the number of patients,” Chaib said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said a number of hospitals were stretched to their capacity, including Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The Geneva-based agency also warned that there was fighting around the Red Crescent hospital in al-Quds on Thursday, a day after militants took up positions at the European Hospital and Nassar Hospital in Khan Younis and Rafah.
”The ICRC is reminding all parties … of the need to refrain from acts of violence against medical facilities, their patients and their staff,” the ICRC said in a daily report on Gaza.
”Ambulances must be allowed to reach the victims and transport them to hospital. Medical facilities must not be used for belligerent purposes,” it added. — AFP
