Airstrikes close to MSF-supported Al Aqsa hospital in Gaza

06 October - Following Israeli airstrikes in the early hours of Sunday 6 October which hit a mosque and a school in Deir Al Balah, Central Gaza, the MSF-supported Al Aqsa hospital received 53 wounded patients and 22 dead people.

“Many patients arrived in very bad conditions with injuries to the head, thorax and abdomen,” says Eliza Sabatini, MSF nurse in Gaza. “The situation in the hospital was terrible. There were not enough beds for all the patients, and we had to treat people on the floor.”

Al-Aqsa is one of the few remaining functional hospitals in Gaza. “The relentless Israeli bombardments and fighting for a year, and the limited humanitarian aid allowed inside Gaza, have brought the health system to its knees,” says Sabatini.

Since the war in Gaza started, MSF teams have treated over 27,600 patients for violence-related injuries, with more than 80 per cent of the wounds linked to shelling. The only way to stop the continuous suffering of the population is with an immediate and sustained ceasefire.