Gaza’s doctors struggle to save hospital blast survivors

Doctors in Gaza City faced with dwindling medical supplies performed surgery on hospital floors, often without anaesthesia, in a desperate bid to save badly wounded victims of a massive blast that killed hundreds of Palestinians sheltering in a nearby hospital amid Israeli bombings and a blockade of the territory.

The explosion at the al-Ahli Hospital on Tuesday night left gruesome scenes.

Video that AP confirmed was from the hospital showed the hospital grounds strewn with torn bodies, many of them young children, as fire engulfed the building.

The grass was strewn with blankets, school backpacks and other belongings. On Wednesday morning, the blast scene was littered with charred cars and the ground was blackened by debris.

Ambulances and private cars rushed some 350 casualties to Gaza City’s main hospital, al-Shifa, which was already overwhelmed with wounded from other strikes, said its director, Mohammed Abu Selmia.

Victims arrived with gruesome injuries, Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said.

Some were decapitated, disemboweled, or missing limbs.

Doctors in the overwhelmed hospital resorted to performing surgery on floor and in the halls, mostly without anaesthesia.

“We need equipment, we need medicine, we need beds, we need anaesthesia, we need everything,” Abu Selmia said.

He warned that fuel for the hospital’s generators would run out within hours, forcing a complete shutdown, unless supplies enter the Gaza Strip.

While Israel has blamed Islamic Jihad, the latter dismissed those claims, accusing Israel of “trying hard to evade responsibility for the brutal massacre it committed.” The group pointed to Israel's order that Al-Ahli be evacuated and reports of a previous blast at the hospital as proof that the hospital was an Israeli target.

It also said the scale of the explosion, the angle of the bomb's fall and the extent of the destruction all pointed to Israel. (AP)