Shifa ICU: a glimpse of hospital critical injuries

Dr Khaled from Shifa hospital ICU told me today around 10 that the majority of cases in the ICU are critical, with an approx 80% who will not survive.  The normally 12-bed ICU was caring for twice as many as normally capable, extra beds and extra rooms made to care for ICU patients. At that time, the 24 beds in the ICU were the 4th shift of critically injured, the former 3 having died from their injuries.

There is a critical need for more ICU beds, as well as mechanical ventilators

the majority of injuries were “multi-explosive injuries” with a concentration of head injuries (“head trauma”) resulting from the explosions, from shrapnel in the brain. Other injuries included abdominal injuries resulting in internal bleeding, from shrapnel in the abdomen.  The majority of head injuries were not expected to survive, and those who do are expected to have brain damage, some full paralysis (quadroplegea).  Because of the shortage of spaces and equipment, the ICU has had to turn patients away, others waiting in the reception until a patient dies and his space can be used.

among the critically wounded were a number of children and minors:

a six year old down’s syndrom with brain trauma

an 11 year old with brain trauma, not likely to survive

a 13 year old with a head injury (“brain matter out“)

a 21 year old, leg amputated, various shrapnel injuries over body and face, loss of hearing in one ear

a 21 year old, braindead, “hopeless” case

a man in his fifties, neither police nor resistance

a man in his forties, on the beach when struck, head trauma (“brain matter out”)

a man in his fifties, head trauma

a 53 year old, shrapnel in the brain, no surgery possible

many other men in their 20s and 30s, head injuries (shrapnel in brain), and abdominal injuries, some policemen.

*deceased, quickly replaced by newly arrived & waiting critical cases

 

maan timeline

The death toll rises with each strike, and as more bodies are pulled out of Saturday’s rubble. A timeline of the latest is:

2:30 Israeli airstrikes over Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza

1:45 Israeli airstrike hits near school in Az-Zaitoun neighborhood in Gaza City

12:00 Israeli air forces launched a fresh raid against the governmental compound known as “As-Saraya” killing one child and injuring several others.

11:45 Israeli bombs targeted the government municipal council offices in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip; several injured Gazans were taken to hospital.

11:00 Israel bombs the temporary headquarters of the Rafah governorate injuring several people; the original building was destroyed in Saturday’s attacks.

10:30 Israeli jets targeted a jeep in the Zaitoun neighborhood of Gaza City killing one child. A second strike took place on the Jabalia area, no casualties were reported.

10:00 Three were killed after Israeli forces bombarded a police station in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, and three homes were destroyed in the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood west of the city.

8:00 The last Israeli raid targeted two de facto government police headquarters in the evacuated Israeli settlement Kfar Darum and Al-Matahin (the mills).

7:30 Al-Qarara greenhouses were obliterated in a strike on the southern Strip, killing a civilian, identified as Nabil Abu Tu’eima.

7:15 Bombs hit the Shuja’iyya neighborhood of Gaza City and another on a military base called “Sa’d Sayil” in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Dozens were injured.

6:45 Israeli bombs landed on Gaza City’s Shuja’iyya neighborhood where a police center was destroyed and several injured.

6:30 The attack was preceded by a strike on a medical storehouse in the Al-Junayna neighborhood and a fuel storehouse with diesel and benzene in the Tal As-Sultan area, both in Rafah in the southern Strip. The strikes destroyed the buildings and much needed civilian supplies, and killed three who have not yet been identified.

1:01am After midnight on Saturday Israeli fighter jets bombarded the security room in front of the Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as well as a mosque in the compound killing two and injuring seven. The blast shattered most of the windows of the emergency ward. The hospital’s morgues were declared full on Saturday and bodies line the hallways waiting to be claimed by family.

12:01am Three Palestinian activists with Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades were killed when an Israeli strike hit the Al-Mansura area east of Gaza City around midnight.

11:50 Israeli forces launched airstrikes on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip and several targets in the north.

11:30 Three from Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades were killed when Israeli airstrikes hit the Al-Mansura neighborhood east of Gaza City.

10:15 Two airstrikes killed three and injured four when they hit the Zaitoun neighborhood of Gaza City and on Jabalia in the north.

Director of Ambulance and Emergency Services in the de facto Palestinian Ministry of Health Muawiya Hassanein explained that despite media reports to the contrary, a large number of the casualties are civilians including women and children.

Saturday’s attacks

Two massive waves of airstrikes dropped 100 bombs on Gaza at 11:30 and a second at approximately 2pm. Smaller strikes hit northern Gaza at 5:30 and 8pm.

Israeli strikes targeted de facto government buildings; one Hamas source told Ma’an “every de facto security building was targeted.” Confirmed casualties include Commander of the de facto Government Police Tawfiq Jabir, Governor of the Al-Wusta (central) Districts Ahmad Abu Aashur and Commander of Security and Protection Services in the de facto government police Ismail Al-Ja’bari.

Islam Shahwan, a Hamas police spokesman, said that the attacks destroyed most of the police headquarters in the Gaza Strip and that a police graduation ceremony was being held during the assault.

Saturday afternoon Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak declared the 20 square kilometers of Gaza a “special military zone.” The classification is one degree below a declaration of total war against an enemy state.