Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of the Shifa hospital, the largest hospital complex in the Gaza Strip, on Thursday called the situation inside the facility "catastrophic," saying that it had run out of water, food, electricity and oxygen reserves amid the ongoing Israeli military operation there.
Earlier in the day, Israel expanded its operation against Hamas at the Shifa hospital. The International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN urged the evacuation of Shifa patients to other facilities. The leadership of Gaza hospitals decided to transfer the patients to the enclave's European Hospital, saying, however, that it lacked beds. Mohammad Zaqout, the director general of Gaza hospitals, urged Egypt to host the patients.
"The hospital has turned into a large prison without water, electricity and food," Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera, adding that "the patients are crying for water and food."
The Israeli military has bombed the hospital's main water pipe, he said. The oxygen reserves have also run out, but hospital workers have refused to leave the building without the patients, Abu Salmiya stated.
"We will not leave the patients alone: we will live and die together. Water shortage is making it hard for us, but we will try our best to survive," he told Al Jazeera.
Abu Salmiya also denied the Israeli army's claims about alleged shooting from the hospital's territory, saying that "there was no gunfire from inside the hospital toward the Israeli soldiers.
He also stressed that medical staff could not anymore provide any care to the patients and move between the hospital's buildings as there were snipers operating on the facility's territory, with the area also being patrolled by Israeli drones.
On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was carrying out a precise and targeted military operation against Palestinian group Hamas in the Shifa hospital.
