Hazem Farjallah wails as he lies in the Gaza hospital corridor, his head bandaged and his aunt by his side, days after he was injured by Israeli bombardment and with little prospect of adequate medical care.
Hazem, 10, has not spoken since he was injured in Thursday's strike on a U.N. school being used as a shelter and the shrapnel wounds are visible on his back, chest and head.
"He's been lying on the ground for days. He's supposed to be in the intensive care unit. There are no mattresses," said his aunt, Umm Nasser in a video obtained by Reuters. Hazem is now in a bed but had to manage on the floor until Monday.
His plight shows the dire condition of Gaza's damaged, under equipped and understaffed hospitals eight months into Israel's military campaign against Hamas after the group's attack on Israeli communities on Oct. 7.
The collapse in Gaza's health system in the face of massive Israeli bombardment has complicated a host of other unfolding disasters, from the hunger crisis to spreading disease. It has left those with chronic conditions unable to access basic care.
But the war has also brought sudden influxes of badly injured people to the few remaining hospitals even as they struggle to access medical supplies, overwhelming doctors and nurses coping with restricted space and terrible injuries.
In Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, where Hazem is lying injured, there are not even enough stands to hold up IV drips. Hazem's aunt said she had had to hold up the packet of medicine so it would flow.
Other injured people in the hospital made the same observation and some could be seen lying with a friend or relative holding aloft the medicine pack.
"We placed the injured along the internal corridors and in between beds. There is no room at all inside this hospital for the injured. We had them sleep in external tents," said Doctor Khalil al-Dakran of al-Aqsa hospital.
There were now four or five times more injured people at the hospital than there were beds for them to use, he said.
Gaza's hospitals overwhelmed by injured from Israel's military campaign
Previous
- Bassil is meeting opposition MPs at the Kataeb Party headquarters in Saifi
- Hasbani arrives at the Kataeb Party headquarters to join the meeting between Bassil, opposition MPs, and Kataeb members
- Sources from the opposition to MTV: Bassil is trying to be the "key player" in today's political game
- Sources to MTV: The opposition will inform Bassil that they will not accept any dialogue chaired by Berri, and their position will remain firm in rejecting this matter
TWEET YOUR COMMENT