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STORY: WHO / GAZA AL AQSA HOSPITAL
TRT: 04:25
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WHO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 06 OCTOBER 2025, AL-AQSA MARTYRS HOSPITAL, DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA, PALESTINE
1. Various shots, busy hospital entrance, and reception, with the WHO team arriving and discussing with hospital leaders
2. Med shot, patient Yahya, laying on a hospital bed
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Yahya Adel Odeh Aref, Patient:
“I was injured while I was trying to get food for my children. I have four children, two boys and two young girls. There was a period of four or five days when I had no food whatsoever at home. I had to go out, like everyone else, to receive aid. As soon as I went, I was injured; the shot went through my side and exited from the other. I stayed in intensive care for about 18 days. I had several operations; to fix damages to vital parts of my body; liver, and a little bit of my right lung, also I have damage in the small intestine. Currently, I can’t move anything expect the upper side of the body.”
4. Med shot, drip attached to patient Yahya
5. Close up, a canula on Yahya’s hand
6. Med shot, Yahya and one of his children, laying on a hospital bed
7. Various shots, busy hospital, long queues of patients waiting to be seen, a doctor examining the injured hand of a patient, WHO team in discussion, an injured boy sitting on the floor, a busy hospital ward, out of service CT scan, a medical supply storage room
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Richard Peeperkorn, Representative, Occupied Palestinian Territory, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Al-Aqsa hospital is the hospital in the middle area; it used to be a hospital with a maximum 200 bed capacity. Currently, it has more than 700 patients and it needed expansion. You see a number of tents here. WHO provided five tents for 80 patients. We also helped to get three Emergency Medical Teams in, and we provide a regular supply of essential medicines and medical supplies. At this stage, Al-Aqsa hospital is the second most important hospital of the whole Gaza Strip, next to Nasser Medical Complex.”
9. Wide shot, entrance to a field hospital tent
10. Wide shot, WHO team in conversation with hospital leaders.
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr Raed Hussein, Director, Al-Aqsa Hospital
“Over the past period, between 300 000 and 700 000 people have fled to us from the Gaza Governate. We are trying to accommodate this large influx. We face a major challenge, as neither our warehouses, doctors, nor our equipment are prepared to handle this pressure. However, with the help of international organizations, we are striving to receive this large number of patients and provide health services to the best of our ability. There is a shortage of medical supplies, medicines, equipment, tents, sleeping quarters, beds, mattresses, and the regular services we provide to the public. Support is needed in all these areas for these services to continue.”
12. Wide shot, interior field hospital tent
As people continue fleeing the incursion in Gaza City, the pressure on hospitals in the south is increasing immensely. Al-Aqsa Hospital, currently the second largest in the Gaza Strip, is operating at over three times its capacity as more people continue to arrive from Gaza City.
Around 1,000 displaced people are sheltering inside the hospital, as patients and their families have nowhere else to go after being discharged.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Yahya Adel Odeh Aref, Patient:
“I was injured while I was trying to get food for my children. I have four children, two boys and two young girls. There was a period of four or five days when I had no food whatsoever at home. I had to go out, like everyone else, to receive aid. As soon as I went, I was injured; the shot went through my side and exited from the other. I stayed in intensive care for about 18 days. I had several operations; to fix damages to vital parts of my body; liver, and a little bit of my right lung, also I have damage in the small intestine. Currently, I can’t move anything expect the upper side of the body.”
The hospital’s generators and medical equipment are under severe strain, and the CT scanner is no longer functional due to overuse and the unavailability of spare parts for maintenance and repair.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Richard Peeperkorn, Representative, Occupied Palestinian Territory, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Al-Aqsa hospital is the hospital in the middle area, it used to be a hospital with a maximum 200 bed capacity. Currently, it has more than 700 patients and it needed expansion. You see a number of tents here. WHO provided five tents for 80 patients. We also helped to get three Emergency Medical Teams in, and we provide a regular supply of essential medicines and medical supplies. At this stage, Al-Aqsa hospital is the second most important hospital of the whole Gaza Strip, next to Nasser Medical Complex.”
To help expand capacity, WHO has supported the hospital with five tents, adding 80 additional beds, and deployed three Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) to provide surge support for emergency care and surgeries, along with the regular supply of essential medicines and medical equipment.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr Raed Hussein, Director, Al-Aqsa Hospital
“Over the past period, between 300 000 and 700 000 people have fled to us from the Gaza Governate. We are trying to accommodate this large influx. We face a major challenge, as neither our warehouses, doctors, nor our equipment are prepared to handle this pressure. However, with the help of international organizations, we are striving to receive this large number of patients and provide health services to the best of our ability. There is a shortage of medical supplies, medicines, equipment, tents, sleeping quarters, beds, mattresses, and the regular services we provide to the public. Support is needed in all these areas for these services to continue.”
The WHO reiterated its call for an unimpeded flow of aid into and across Gaza and for an urgent ceasefire.
