Testimony from MSF orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Mohammed Obeid, sheltering in Kamal Adwan hospital, north Gaza – collected on 22 October.
24 October,2024: “There is death in all types and forms in Kamal Adwan hospital and north Gaza. The bombardment does not stop. The artillery does not stop. The planes do not stop. There is heavy shelling, and the hospital is targeted too. It just looks like a movie; it does not seem real.
About five days ago, my house was hit. They completely blew up the roof and water tanks, but we were at the ground floor and only one person got injured, thank God. We left a few times, moving to different areas, my family and neighbors were terrified. I sheltered in Kamal Adwan hospital with my wife and children, and I am now working here, where I can treat numerous patients.
There are no words to describe the situation in Kamal Adwan hospital: it is disastrous. The hospital is completely overwhelmed. There are injured people everywhere, outside and inside the hospital, and we do not have medical and surgical equipment to treat them.
Ambulances cannot move. We cannot reach the bodies of the people killed and cannot save the injured ones who lie in the streets. Many of them died before reaching the hospital, and others died inside the hospital as we could not treat their wounds.
We have 30 people dead inside the hospital, and around 130 injured patients who need urgent medical care. Medical staff are exhausted, and many are injured as well. We feel hopeless. I just don’t have words.
We call on all the countries in the world to consider north Gaza, and to lift the blockade that has led to the death of so many people.”
Notes
The situation in North Gaza governorate, where about 175,000 people live according to UN estimates, is extremely dire. The northern part of the Strip, particularly Jabalia camp, has been besieged by Israeli forces since October 7, 2024. People in North Gaza have since been trapped and caught in relentless attacks and violence amidst the ongoing military operation, which has killed over 600 people so far, as of October 22, 2024, according to Gaza’s civil defense agency.
On 7 October 2024, Israeli forces issued evacuation orders in Beith Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahia, North Gaza, including three hospitals (Kamal Adwan, Indonesian and Al-Awda Hospitals), but it was almost impossible for people to move safely as the area was already surrounded and people attempting to evacuate were shot at. Around 55,000 people (OCHA, 16 October 2024), who were able to move in the initial hours of the offensive, were displaced toward the south (but within the northern part of Gaza), mainly to Gaza City.
Israeli forces are forcibly displacing people along unsafe routes, with reports that people trying to evacuate are being shot at, while trapping the population in Jabalia who face a critical lack of food, essential items, and access to healthcare, and risk being killed.
Since the beginning of the month of October, there has been a near total lack of humanitarian aid and food entering into North Gaza. Since October 15, some supplies have entered, but in quantities that are largely insufficient for the population. Fuel and medical supplies are running low for the remaining healthcare structures in the north as most movements of humanitarian actors from the south to the north are also being denied.
Medical evacuations are urgently needed but have been either denied, or extremely difficult to organize.
MSF Australia was established in 1995 and is one of 24 international MSF sections committed to delivering medical humanitarian assistance to people in crisis. In 2022, more than 120 project staff from Australia and New Zealand worked with MSF on assignment overseas. MSF delivers medical care based on need alone and operates independently of government, religion or economic influence and irrespective of race, religion or gender. For more information visit msf.org.au