4 patients die in ICU of Gaza's largest hospital due to power outage: Health Ministry

Tel Aviv, Nov 11 (IANS) The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said that four patients in the ICU of the Al-Shifa Hospital due to the continued electricity outage at the besieged enclave largest medical facility.

”Snipers are all around the buildings near the hospital and we hear excessive shootings and explosions continuously. We don’t have electricity now and we have warned earlier about this disaster," Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said.

On Saturday morning, a newborn baby died in the hospital also due to the lack of power supply.

For over a month, no fuel has been allowed into the Gaza Strip, including to the Al-Shifa Hospital.

The Ministry said that unmanned Israeli aircraft were hovering above the hospital and that is moving in the facility was subject to firing.

In a message to IANS, Mehdit Abbas, a doctor at Al-Shifa, said: "We have no food, no water, no electricity, no internet and we are completely isolated from the outside world."

He also said that the fifth floor of the surgical expansion building was targeted just a few minutes ago.

There have been reports of Israeli attacks near the Al-Shifa Hospital, with staff and authorities posting online videos appearing to show heavy bombing in the area surrounding the complex.

A World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson said Friday that al-Shifa was “coming under bombardment”, adding that 20 hospitals in the Gaza Strip were “out of action”.

In the early hours of Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that a failed missile launched by terrorists in the Gaza Strip hit the Al-Shifa Hospital.

In a post on X, the IDF's spokesperson in Arabic Avichay Adraee said that an analysis of the military's "operational systems indicates that sabotage elements fired rockets this morning targeting IDF forces operating near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City".

"According to IDF systems, rocket-propelled grenades hit the hospital. Therefore, according to the information available to the IDF, terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip are responsible for the failed missile launch that hit the hospital," he added.

The IDF has maintained that the Hamas operates from tunnels underneath Al-Shifa.

The allegation however, has been denied by the militant group.

The development came a week after Israel targeted an ambulance outside the hospital, killing at least 15 people and injuring 50 others.