Many of those injured suffered terrible burns, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which will require intensive treatment, electricity and high-level medical services, all of which are scarce after nearly eight months of war.
It is just another massive challenge for all the medical teams in the enclave, WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris told journalists in Geneva.
“This is one of the hardest things for a doctor or nurse as you want to help, but you don’t have what it takes,” Dr. Harris said.
“You are watching people who shouldn’t die, die in front of you because you simply either lack the tools, the skills, or the supplies to do what needs to be done.”
The Israeli incursion in Rafah displaced medical staff while essential fuel stocks continue to dwindle as the UN humanitarian operation has been all but shut down in the latest escalation that began three weeks ago, sparked by a deadly Hamas rocket attack on the Kerem Shalom border crossing.
WHO confirmed that three of its supply trucks managed to cross the Kerem Shalom border since the incursion began, but 60 are stuck in Egypt owing to the closure of the border.
Although some 200,000 litres of fuel are required each day, Dr. Harris said WHO has been able to access only about 70,000 litres per day at best – but some days, absolutely none.
“All the hospitals are really struggling and making decisions about what they can do,” she added.
Fuel is critical to power hospital generators, but it is also needed by bakeries and water desalination plants, which have received only 10 per cent of the supply they require in the past week, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
In condemning the attack, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that only a third of hospitals in Gaza "remain even partially functional".
