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UN PhotoWHO / GAZA AL SHIFA HOSPITAL
STORY: WHO / GAZA AL SHIFA HOSPITAL
TRT: 06:56
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WHO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 05 APRIL 2024, AL-SHIFA MEDICAL COMPLEX, NORTH GAZA
1.Wide shot, external, devastation at the complex
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Ayadil Saparbekov, Team Lead for Health Emergencies, World Health Organization (WHO):
“This is what used to be the emergency department. And as you can see, it's totally destroyed. You can see the total destruction everywhere. And the most important there is the smell of sewage and of the rotten bodies around me.”
3. Various shots, devastation and destruction of the Emergency Department
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Ayadil Saparbekov, Team Lead for Health Emergencies, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Here I am in what remains of the emergency room of the biggest hospital of Gaza, Al-Shifa. Unfortunately, as you can see around me, it's only the rubble. What used to be the beds. What used to be the oxygen pipes? What used to be the rooms for doctors and for the patients? Patients used to be here to receive their first aid. But unfortunately, now everything is burned. And as you can see behind me, there is nothing left of the emergency room.”
5. Various shots, devastation and destruction of the Emergency Department
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdelnasir Soboh, Health Emergency and Coordination Officer for Gaza, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Al-Shifa hospital was the core of the health system in Gaza Strip. This is what remains of Gaza Hospital now.”
7. Med shot, Dr Gargavanis talking on a 2- way radio
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdelnasir Soboh, Health Emergency and Coordination Officer for Gaza, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Al-Shifa hospital, normally, in the normal circumstances, takes care of 40% of the health burden in the Gaza Strip.”
9. Pan left, destruction at medical complex
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Ayadil Saparbekov, Team Lead for Health Emergencies, World Health Organization (WHO):
“And what you also see here in the yard of the hospital are the graves of people who have died. Some of them have been buried. Some of them are not yet even buried. So you can see here, here, and in many other places you can see the bodies that are rotting under the Gazan sun. This is horrible and this is unimaginable. This war should stop now."
11. Wide shot, mission team and health workers, devasted building
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Athanasios Gargavanis, Trauma surgeon & Emergency officer, World Health Organization (WHO):
“In the last three years, WHO has invested an important amount of time, effort and more than 5 million USD to make sure that patients, surgical patients that were coming in Shifa hospital during mass casualty incidents would be getting proper care. We've invested in the surgical wards, we've invested in supplies, we've invested in human resources and capacity building, and now these places that used to save lives and limbs. It's all torn down to pieces. There’s nothing left.”
13. Various shots, destruction around medical complex
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Ayadil Saparbekov, Team Lead for Health Emergencies, World Health Organization (WHO):
“So behind me is the remains of the neonatal intensive care unit and the nursery, where very sick young children and infants were receiving their care. Here in Gaza.”
15. Wide shot, devastation and destruction around medical complex
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Athanasios Gargavanis, Trauma surgeon & Emergency officer, World Health Organization (WHO):
“This is the place where babies have been treated. Now, there’s nothing.”
17. Various shots, devastation and destruction around medical complex
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdelnasir Soboh, Health Emergency and Coordination Officer for Gaza, World Health Organization (WHO):
“We are standing here where it used to be the front of the hospital and were in front of the emergency room behind me, where ambulances used to bring the cases. Now all the area is destroyed. In addition to the hospital, and in addition to that, the dead bodies are still underneath us. We can smell the death out while we are standing here.”
19. Various shots, devastation and destruction around medical complex
20. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr Marwaan Abu Saadah, Acting Director, Al-Shifa Medical Complex:
“The health situation is tragic and disastrous in the Gaza strip, Gaza city and northern Gaza. We call on everyone to support the health sector in all of the Gaza strip, but especially in the Gaza Governorate, and the northern Governorate.”
21. Wide shot, destroyed building on medical complex
The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners managed to reach Al-Shifa — once the backbone of the health system in Gaza.
According to WHO, the team witnessed at least five dead bodies during the mission.
Most of the buildings in the hospital complex are extensively destroyed and most assets damaged or reduced to ashes.
Even restoring minimal functionality in the short term seems implausible.
An in-depth assessment by a team of engineers is needed to determine if the remaining buildings are safe for future use.
WHO and partners’ recent effort to support the revival of basic services at Al-Shifa are now lost, and people are once again deprived of access to lifesaving health care services.
As famine looms, disease outbreaks spread, and trauma injuries increase, WHO urges immediate: protection of remaining health facilities in Gaza; protection of health and humanitarian workers; additional land crossings to allow access into and across north Gaza; functional deconfliction mechanism; unimpeded access of humanitarian aid into and across the Gaza Strip; ceasefire
