Key points
- 50,000 pregnant women and newborn babies are without essential medical care in Gaza.
- After a Gaza hospital blast killed hundreds, with others under evacuation threat, thousands face a "death sentence", MSF says.
- The hospitals have become makeshift and "miserable" shelters for desperate residents.
Razan is ready to give birth to her first baby but unlike most expectant mothers who have a hospital bag packed, she is facing the terrifying prospect of being in labour alone.
She has decided to remain in her Gaza home, with nobody to look after her or deliver her child.
Her husband is working at a local hospital, while her mother, Amal Abu Aisha, has fled her home. Amal is deeply fearful for her daughter's welfare and is desperate to be by her side, but she's unable to make contact with her.
“I do not know what can I do as her husband is fulfilling his medical duty in Gaza hospitals under this difficult situation," Amal told ActionAid.
"I cannot reach her, and she cannot move to hospital under this constant attack and overcrowding of hospitals.
"I only need to be next to her ... this is her first baby. I cannot imagine how she can bear the severe pains of labour alone".
Razan is among 50,000 left without essential medical care, ActionAid estimates.
Palestinians wounded in Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis. Source: AAP / Fatima Shbair/AP
"As thousands of Gazans flee in fear of their lives, abandoning their homes and communities, it is deeply concerning to witness the threats to target hospitals and critical infrastructure... Pregnant women make the impossible choice of fleeing with no guarantee of safety or remaining at risk of almost certain death."
With no painkillers, patients are 'screaming in pain'
Israel has ordered the evacuation of Gaza's north, home to around half of the territory's 2.3 million residents. People are trying to survive without food, water, fuel and electricity as
There are fears its hospitals, already overrun with patients and desperately short of supplies, will also be completely cut off, while they may also be forced to evacuate.
On Tuesday, hundreds of Palestinians were killed after a blast at al-Ahli Arab Hospital.
A Palestinian Health Ministry official attributed the attack to an airstrike from Israel's military.
Israel denied responsibility, saying the hospital was hit by a failed rocket launch by a Palestinian militant group.
Gaza's main border crossings.
"In Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s main surgical hospital, the very few remaining members of our team reported a shortage in painkillers. They heard wounded patients screaming in pain."
Among the chaos, sick people face the prospect of having nowhere to go, medics face the prospect of abandoning their patients, while those in serious conditions must somehow flee. Pregnant women, meanwhile, are being left to their own devices.
Simon Eccleshall, head of programs at MSF Australia, says for the past two days hospitals have been rationing electricity and fuel for generators, prioritising intensive care units (ICU) and other lifesaving support.
He describes orders to evacuate and threats to cut off supplies to hospitals as "nothing short of a death sentence".
"If they turn off the electricity, if there's no water, patients are unable to survive without doctors, without staff. Once you turn off life support in an ICU, it's very hard for the patient to survive," he told SBS News.
Eccleshall says MSF and other organisations are in the provision of electricity, fuel and water to hospitals.
"One would hope that there'd be a breakthrough in the coming hours to be able to avert what's otherwise going to be a very preventable humanitarian crisis and a very large number of casualties."
Hospitals becoming shelters for thousands
Gaza's hospitals are currently looking after more than 10,000 wounded, according to authorities, though they're providing shelter for many thousands more.
Bisan, a humanitarian youth volunteer with ActionAid Palestine, is sheltering at what was once one of Gaza's largest and most important hospitals.
"Surprisingly we are still alive. The conditions here are miserable. We are without water, without food, without hygiene. People are sleeping and lying in the streets, in the corridors and everywhere inside the hospital.”
With Gaza's border crossings closed, humanitarian aid is unable to enter the territory. Source: Getty / Ahmad Hasaballah
The organisation was struggling to maintain contact with its hospital colleagues in the territory. Over 20 of its international staff have already moved to the south, close to the , with the goal to evacuate via Egypt.
Charity and aid organisations have been forced to suspend their operations in Gaza while humanitarian aid is unable to enter. They're calling for a humanitarian corridor to provide urgent assistance and medicines.
Najla Shawa, Oxfam's country relations manager based in Gaza, said she was now tasked with the forced evacuation of her own family of five.
"Last night we slept for an hour or so. Woke up to rumours that we need to evacuate the entire Gaza city. We're still in a shock. We left at around 5am… we packed suitcases for us. We had some food, we brought everything … We have no idea what's going to happen, if we are going to make it back to Gaza City, if we are going to make it back to our homes."
Once you turn off life support, it's very hard for the patient to survive.Simon Eccleshall, head of programs at MSF Australia
MSF says Gaza is already a breeding ground for disease for the more than one million people relocated to southern Gaza from their homes and shelters in the north.
"Many sleep in rough conditions, access to drinking water is dangerously scarce, there is no electricity and very poor hygiene conditions are fertile ground for the development of more health issues over the next few days and weeks," a spokesperson said.
The Australian government has committed $10 million in humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by the Israel-Gaza conflict.
