Many of my staff can't work because they are starving, says Gaza City hospital director
The director of Gaza's largest hospital said on Thursday, 24 July, that many of his colleagues had been admitted to hospital in the past 48 hours because of severe malnutrition, as starvation grips the region.
Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, told Daily Maverick through text and voice notes that his medical staff were 'exhausted', 'malnourished' and hungry because they had not eaten for 48 hours, and were still 'working under severe pressure' to 'save injured people'.
'Our staff should be working to save these patients, but they are … severely suffering from hunger, and we [have admitted] many of our doctors and nurses to hospital because [they are] severely malnourished.
'The last time I had something to eat was the night before last,' he said.
As he spoke, the sound of sirens could be heard echoing in the background of Abu Salmiya's voice notes.
On Wednesday, 23 July, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, said Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were suffering mass starvation caused by Israel's blockade of aid into the region.
'I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it's man-made, and that's very clear,' Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference from Geneva, Switzerland. 'This is because of the blockade.'
Ghebreyesus' speech came after more than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders, warned on Wednesday that 'mass starvation' was spreading across Gaza, as a result of Israel's siege of humanitarian aid.
The groups said that their aid supplies in Gaza had been exhausted.
'Just outside Gaza, in warehouses — and even within Gaza itself — tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sit untouched, with humanitarian organisations blocked from accessing or delivering them. The government of Israel's restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation and death,' said the organisations in a joint statement.
At least 115 Palestinians have died of starvation in Gaza, including 80 children, according to a report from Al Jazeera. Since Hamas' 7 October 2023 assault on Israel, in which at least 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 hostages taken, Israel has killed more than 58,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
After a two-month ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas collapsed in March, Israel implemented a total blockade on aid, which pushed Palestinians to the verge of famine.
Since May, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private US and Israeli-backed group, has managed a new system in which Palestinians go to a few aid distribution hubs at prearranged times for aid.
According to the United Nations (UN), more than 800 people have been killed by Israeli forces while seeking to retrieve aid since the GHF began operations.
'I haven't seen this before in my life'
Speaking to Daily Maverick from Al-Shifa Hospital, Abu Salmiya said the hospital was receiving 'hundreds of patients' daily, suffering from severe malnutrition. These are people of all ages, according to Abu Salmiya, including pregnant women, children, the elderly and the critically ill.
He said the hospital was able to treat them only with limited IV fluids.
'We don't have medicine, we don't have drugs, we don't have medical supplies to treat these patients with nutritional supplements.
'Some of these patients that are coming to our hospital are dying, and we are not able to do anything to save them.
'One patient came to our hospital severely dehydrated, with sunken eyes … severely tired — just bone and skin. I haven't seen this before in my life,' he said.
Abu Salmiya urged the international community to force Israel to end the blockade and ensure the safe entry of food, fuel and medical supplies to protect Palestinians in Gaza.
'Starvation must never be used as a weapon of war. The people of Gaza have a right to [a] life with dignity,' he said.
He added that his family was suffering from extreme hunger too. His sons, he said, plead with him: 'Papa, we need bread. Papa, we need some food.'
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