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MSF opens field hospital in Deir al-Balah as frontline inches closer to Al-Aqsa Hospital as Gaza Holocaust worsens

Field hospitals cannot replace the health care system that Israel has dismantled in Gaza.

Following an evacuation order issued by Israeli forces and a recent explosion near the MSF-supported Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza this past weekend, August 2024, almost 650 patients fled the hospital fearing for their lives. MSF has opened a nearby field hospital to meet some of the needs of people who can no longer go to Al-Aqsa.

MSF’s field hospital, which wasn’t scheduled to open until September, started receiving its first patients amid a severe lack of supplies and resources and is facing huge pressure as the other remaining hospitals in the area are under threat. It was designed to be complementary and to provide support for other larger hospitals like Al-Aqsa. Field hospitals are not a solution, but a last resort in response to Israel’s dismantling of the health care system. Without hospitals like Al-Aqsa and Nasser in Khan Younis, field hospitals will struggle to cope with the urgency and abundance of medical needs.

“There is a cumulative impact to the dismantling of Gaza’s health care system by Israeli forces,” said Juliette Seguin, MSF emergency coordinator.

“Each health structure dismantled increases the pressure on those remaining while decreasing people’s access to health care. Without an immediate and sustained ceasefire, the notion of a true medical humanitarian response is an illusion.”

For months, MSF supply and medical teams have been working to establish this field hospital, repeatedly delaying its opening due to continued challenges related to getting essential supplies into Gaza. Despite the enormous supply and access challenges, a second field hospital in the same location is being set up.

“No amount of field hospitals will replace what was a functional health care system in Gaza before the escalation of war,” said Dr. Sohaib Safi, deputy medical coordinator for MSF in Gaza.

“This is the last resort to provide urgently needed medical care, but it really is a drop in the ocean. As the facade of a ceasefire is presented time and again, the ability to sustain human life in Gaza diminishes.”

On Sunday, before an evacuation order was issued in close proximity to Al-Aqsa Hospital, there were approximately 650 patients receiving care there and hundreds more seeking sanctuary on the hospital grounds. Today, Al-Aqsa Hospital is almost unrecognizable.

“The hospital looks really empty,” Dr. Sohaib said. “Before the evacuation order and explosions, the hospital was so crowded that patients sometimes had to be treated on the floor. Patients were everywhere—often queuing in front of the hospital, desperately seeking care. The atmosphere is one of anxiety due to the imminent threat. We encountered several patients with burns, complicated wounds, and people in need of amputations, who are currently receiving care at the hospital. These cases are likely the tip of the iceberg; we know there are many more people in need of urgent care who can’t reach the hospital.”

Displaced people sheltering around the hospital has become commonplace; the majority of Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced multiple times since October, and the so-called “humanitarian zone” identified by Israel, has reduced significantly. There are just 15 square miles [41 square kilometers] for 1.9 million people that aren’t designated an active war zone. However, the so-called “humanitarian zone” has also been routinely bombed.

According to the World Health Organization, 20 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are now non-functional. Temporary structures like field hospitals lack the capacity for advanced surgical care and many other lifesaving essentials to treat patients in critical condition or with long-term medical conditions. Over the last 11 months, MSF teams have been forced to leave 14 medical structures in the Gaza Strip. Warring parties must respect and protect the last remaining hospitals in Gaza.

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Ray Hanania

Syndicated columnist, radio host, writer at Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

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