A Palestinian doctor at a medical center in Rafah said Tuesday that 27 bodies had been brought there since the start of Israel’s incursion, in which ground troops entered the southeastern corner of Gaza and took control of the Gazan side of a crossing. border with Egypt.
Dr. Suhaib Hems, director of Kuwait Hospital in Rafah, said his facility had also received 150 injured people, many of whom suffered broken bones, serious head injuries or severe burns.
“The situation is catastrophic in every sense of the word,” Dr. Hems said.
The Israeli military said it had killed about 20 people in Rafah and described the dead as Hamas fighters. He said that “ground troops continue to operate against Hamas terrorist operatives and infrastructure in the Rafah crossing area.” Israel has called the raid on Rafah, where more than a million people have sought refuge from the war, a limited operation.
It was unclear whether there was an overlap in the death toll and the two claims could not be independently confirmed.
Dr Hem said his hospital lacked the capacity to properly treat the injured due to a shortage of medical equipment and staff.
“If the situation persists, we are only a few days away from the total closure of the service,” he stated. “The health system is completely collapsed.”
Before the war, he said, about 270 people worked at Kuwait Hospital, but that number had dwindled to just a few dozen. He said the war had left him with a feeling of “helplessness, betrayal and despair.”
According to a statement from the Gaza Ministry of Health on Tuesday, at least 54 people had died across the Gaza Strip in the previous 24 hours. He said dozens more were treated for injuries at medical facilities in the territory.
“Several victims remain under the rubble and in the streets and ambulance and civil defense teams cannot reach them,” the ministry said. The circumstances of the deaths could not be independently confirmed.
Israeli forces took control of the Rafah border crossing during the raid and closed it. Wael Abu Omar, spokesman for the Palestinian side of the crossing, said the closure had prevented 46 wounded and sick people from leaving Gaza for treatment in Egypt.
The patients included people with breast cancer, lymphoma and other ailments, the Health Ministry said.