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Patients flee Gaza hospital after strikes, doctor says

Dr Tomo Potokar said the sound of bombardment and drones in the air is 'constant' and the road to get out is 'now quite dangerous'
Dr Tomo Potokar said the sound of bombardment and drones in the air is 'constant' and the road to get out is 'now quite dangerous'

A plastic surgeon working at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, which was almost entirely evacuated this morning due to Israeli bombardment, has said there has been damage to the hospital's water and power supply.

Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Dr Tomo Potokar said strikes on the facility on Tuesday evening "created quite a lot of damage" and caused many patients to leave out of fear.

He said there were three more strikes yesterday and many patients were transferred to other hospitals.

More than 130 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since dawn yesterday, according to civil defence workers.

"There was damage to the water supply, damage to the drainage, damage to some of the power supply, so it wasn't possible to function some of the operating theatres," Dr Potokar said.

"Yesterday, there were three further strikes on the hospital and whilst I don't think there was an official evacuation order, patients, relatives, staff, everyone was carrying plastic bags and just trying to get out of the place.

More than 130 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since dawn yesterday, according to civil defence workers

"They managed to transfer some patients to other hospitals, which was very difficult for them. Last night there were still seven patients left on the Intensive Care Unit.

"They managed to transfer one or two last night and they're hoping to transfer the rest of those this morning and at that point will be no patients left in the hospital."

Dr Potokar said the sound of bombardment and drones in the air is "constant" and the road to get out is "now quite dangerous".


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He said everyone is anxious and concerned about what will happen in the next day or two.

"We're negotiating the safest way to get out because once there's no patients left here, there's no reason to still be here," he said.

"We will transfer to different hospitals and start working in another hospital."

This is Dr Potokar's sixteenth time in Gaza. He said he continues to return because there is "a clear need" for medical workers.

"Anyone who has visited the Gaza Strip, they realise the injustice of what's going on here," he said.

"But also the dignity of the Palestinian people, how much they have suffered and how little the rest of the world ever does to really help them."

Earlier this month the Israeli government approved pans to expand the offensive, and spoke of the "conquest" of Gaza.

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A spokesperson for the World Heath Organization has said WHO staff are delivering the last medical materials they have.

Christian Lindmeier said that while trauma supplies are the main thing that is needed, people also need food, water and sanitary products as the entire population of Gaza faces famine.

Speaking to RTÉ's News at One, he said the United Nations is on the ground with supplies and the only thing that is needed is to open the door and let everything in.

Aid shipments are just minutes away across the line while people are being deprived of the most basic humanitarian needs, he added.

"We don't need to wait for a famine... we see people dying of malnutrition, people are starving to death. Young, weak children and elderly people are not making it," he said.

Mr Lindmeier said attacks on hospitals were "scandalous", describing them as "another drop in this horrific ocean".

He called on Israel to end the blockade and allow supplies into Gaza.

Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's October 2023 attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 52,928 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.