It has been a year since the massacre in Gaza, and the survivors of the destruction of al-Shifa hospital are recounting the tragedy.
For more than a year, Israel has been brutally attacking Gaza, and most of the besieged areas have been destroyed, including many schools and hospitals. Last year, as the war had just begun, we visited the largest and most important hospital in Gaza – al-Shifa – as it was facing collapse following the Israeli blockade of water and fuel. The electricity was about to go out and al-Shifa was close to collapse.
Now, more than a year later, we return to the hospital that helped so many Palestinians during so many attacks on Gaza. Al-Shifa Hospital is now an empty shell after the recent siege. No patients remain at the center. Most of the buildings are badly damaged or destroyed and many of the equipment is unusable or has been reduced to ashes. The level of destruction has left the facility completely out of commission, further reducing access to life-saving health care in Gaza. Restoring even a small performance in the short term seems absurd but with a slow reopening, it is impossible.
The hospital’s emergency department as well as the operating and delivery wards were badly damaged by explosives and fire. The west wall of the emergency department and the north wall of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were demolished. At least 115 beds in the former emergency center were burned and 14 NICU incubators were destroyed, among other items.
Many shallow graves were dug just outside the emergency department, as well as the administrative and surgical buildings. In this area, many corpses were partially buried and their organs were visible, the smell of rotting flesh enveloped the hospital compound.
According to the acting director of the hospital, patients were kept in poor conditions during the siege. They endured severe shortages of food, water, health care, hygiene and sanitation, and were forced to move between buildings at gunpoint.
The film will reveal the destruction of al-Shifa hospital, and what this means for the health system in Gaza.
Credits:
Zainab Walji’s film
Edited by Jameel Hodzic
Filmed in Media Town in Gaza
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