Displaced Gazans face dire conditions in hospital courtyard

By Ramadan Abed

GAZA (Reuters) – Iqbal al-Zeidi has been going out to retrieve her family’s belongings from the rubble of their home ever since it was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City almost a year ago.

Braving more bombardments, she said she has travelled up to the wrecked site, collected bedsheets, clothes and blankets, and brought them back to their shelter – a torn tent in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Hospital about 10 miles (16km) south in the city of Deir Al-Balah.

Other tents clustered nearby give little relief from the sweltering heat, and none from the attacks that have followed them to their new home.

On Thursday, four people died when an Israeli airstrike hit tents where other displaced families were living close to the same hospital, local medics said.

She is among the millions of Gazans who have been moving up and down the besieged and overcrowded enclave, escaping an attack in one location, only to face more attacks in their new place of refuge.

“Our house was a 120-square-metre apartment. Now we live in a tent just 4 metres by 4 metres,” al-Zeidi said, visibly worn out by the heat.

“We left our house under bombing, with nothing – no papers, no certificates, nothing. We are completely erased.”

WORSENING HEALTH CONDITIONS

Conditions are dire across the territory with severe shortages of water, medicine and fuel. Few hospitals are functional.

The collapse in Gaza’s health system has complicated a host of other unfolding disasters, from a hunger crisis to spreading disease. It has left those with chronic conditions unable to access basic care.

“My granddaughter has a heart condition, and we can’t get treatment. I am sick myself, with high blood pressure and diabetes, but I can’t find medication,” al-Zeidi told Reuters.

The conflict erupted on Oct. 7, when Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed more than 40,861 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Israel says it goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties and has accused Hamas of using human shields and operating from places like schools and hospitals. The group denies the allegations and alleges that Israel bombs Palestinians indiscriminately.

Near Al-Aqsa Hospital, Al-Zeidi’s eight-month-old grandson sat inside the tent while other family members looked for shade nearby.

“Another month will pass, and we will have been here for a year. We run after food, water, all amidst diseases,” she said.

(Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Michael Georgy and Andrew Heavens)