9 January 2009
I am using my brother’s laptop to type these words – it has an hour left on the battery. The battery on my laptop has already died. As I do this I can hear the sound of explosions still going on.
Today we couldn’t distribute any aid as the bombing was so intense – vast parts of Gaza are now under smoke. Yesterday we were able to distribute 1,000 food parcels to local aid organisations who are helping us to reach desperate families - each parcel is enough for a family of eight for one month.
This morning I heard about six people killed in the Qarrah area – all of them were over 50-years-old.
The whole health sector in Gaza is crippled. In the hospitals the doctors are sending home the severely injured. They have no choice due to the shortage of beds. Many of those sent home need to be in hospital for weeks but are now finding themselves back in their homes after a few hours.
The shortage of doctors can be seen in the operating theatres. While a doctor is operating on a patient, two more will be brought in for emergency surgery at the same time – it’s an impossible situation. It’s not only the doctors; there is a severe shortage of nurses too. The hospitals asked student nurses in their third and fourth years to come and help as well as other volunteers - such is their desperation.
It is important to remember that Gaza has been under siege for the last 18 months so the hospitals were already suffering from a severe shortage of medical equipment. Al Shifa is the largest hospital in Gaza and it just cannot cope with all the injured. In most hospitals around the world generators are used as emergency back-up if anything happens to the electricity. In Gaza the generators are the man source of electricity for the hospitals and there is no back-up. If the generators do not work properly there is nothing the doctors can do. This can happen during an operation.
Islamic Relief is going regularly to the hospitals and supplying them with medical equipment. But what will happen when the fuel runs out in Gaza and the generators no longer work? Most people in Gaza are already without electricity as most do not have access to generators.