Palestinians in Gaza Join Forces to Restore Burnt Al-Shifa Medical Complex
(Arab World Press) - An official from a Palestinian construction company said that he expects that the partial restoration of the al-Shifa Hospital complex to be concluded within 10 days.
Mohammed al-Sheikh, an engineer with the company tasked with restoring the destroyed medical complex, said that his teams have been working for the past three weeks on the facility which was completely burnt.
He described the difficulties they faced in securing the building materials for their work.
“We managed [to procure] the materials with difficulty. Paint, wire, or equipment needed for the work were not readily available, but we were able to secure them with great effort. Praise be to God, things went well, and we started working.”
In March, the Israeli army bombarded the complex one day before raiding it, causing the entire hospital to catch fire.
As a result, a large number of displaced Palestinians, who had sought refuge in the medical facility after their homes were destroyed in previous bombings, were forced to flee again.
The Israeli army withdrew from the complex on April 1, leaving behind massive destruction and many bodies, which Palestinians say were buried in mass graves inside the complex.
As cleaning, paving, painting, and repairing the electricity network are underway, a bulldozer continues to remove rubble and clean up around the hospital area.
Residents of the surrounding neighbourhoods, who were displaced due to the bombing and the destruction of their homes, are watching the ongoing work with joy, hoping that it will help revive the area.
Souhaib al-Louh, who used to live near the complex but was forced to flee to a safer location, said, “We very much hope that al-Shifa Hospital will resume operations because it gives us hope and revives this area. We used to go there because it provided all the medical care we needed.”
He added, “This area was bustling with life and the wounded were brought here. It was the hospital we frequented the most, and all the injured were transferred to it.”