Khan Younes Hospital’s ICU Patients Battling Their Own War
(AWP) - As Israel continues its war against Gaza Strip and while hundreds of thousands are struggling to stay alive in the non-stop Israeli bombardment that followed a surprise attack by Hamas last week, dozens of Palestinians are battling their own war at the intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital in Khan Younes.
In a room at the Nasser Medical Complex Hospital in southern Gaza Strip, scores of patients are between life and death after sustaining serious injuries in Israeli shelling Palestinians say did not exclude hospitals.
Khaled Sharab, a boy of nearly 10 years old, is one of them. His mother said he survived a bombing attack that targeted her sister’s house and other relatives near the hospital, which they thought was safer.
Umm Khaled is praying for the survival of her son amid weeping over her sister who was killed in the same raid, adding her sister’s son and daughter were also killed in the attack.
“We heard a powerful strike that rocked Khan Younes. I was scared. I was told the strike was near Nasser Hospital. Later on, they said the strike hit Abu-Kayed's house. I thought it was not possible to strike my sister’s house,” said Umm Khaled while standing next to her son’s bed at the hospital, whose yard was pounded during the early days of the new round of escalation in the strip.
“My sister used to tell me her house was safe. She even invited us to stay there during the war. I was bereaved. My sister and her son and daughter all died in a second,” she added.
A doctor at the hospital said in statements to the Arab World Press (AWP) that women and children make up 60% of the cases they receive on a daily basis.
“All ten beds at the ICU have patients on them. The hospital is unable to receive more patients,” he added.
Doctors at the hospitals of Gaza Strip were crying for help after the shortage in medical equipment and pharmaceuticals aggravated amid cut-off of electricity and water supplies in addition to Israeli threats to evacuate hospitals in the northern and eastern areas of the enclave.
The threats brought more pressure on Khan Younes hospitals as Israel notified the Palestinians to head south.
At the medical complex west of Khan Younes, there is hardly a foothold as thousands of families have been displaced from their houses and dwellings in different areas of the city to flee the Israeli strikes.
Entire families were sitting at the hospital garden and corridors seeking a safe spot.
However, Umm Khaled still clings to hope and prayers for God to help her son heal.
“Please pray for him to be healed. He is strong and he will be fine, God willing,” she pleaded.