No medicine, no beds, no food or water: inside Gaza City’s main hospital
Inside al-Shifa Hospital after medical staff and patients were forced to evacuate due to intensified Israeli attacks in Gaza City on 25 September 2025
Tareq S. Hajjaj reports in Mondoweiss on 25 September 2025:
In Gaza City, as the Israeli army is taking more steps to reach and occupy the heart of the city, and the number of casualties rise, all eyes are once again on the one hospital that used to be the largest and most qualified for such times – al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Since October 2023, the Israeli army has stormed and destroyed al-Shifa Hospital more than once. Still, the health ministry in Gaza managed to rebuild some sections and provide medical care to people in one of the places most subjected to ongoing Israeli bombing, Gaza City.
But with the Israeli army’s recent advance into Gaza City, fears are once again rising of yet another Israeli invasion of the hospital. On top of that, al-Shifa, along with all other hospitals in Gaza, is facing a critical shortage of medical supplies, blood units, staff, beds, and essential medical devices.
“These are bloody days.” Dr. Hassan Alshaer, medical director at al-Shifa Hospital, said. In recent days, over 60 people have been carried to the hospital dead, and over 175 injuries arrive at the hospital daily, “most of them in critical condition and in need of surgeries and intensive care units. We only have four operational rooms in the hospital.”
In “eight waves” daily, Alshaer describes, casualties and martyrs come to the hospital, with each wave holding at least 30 people dead and wounded. “We are struggling due to the Israeli siege and war, but inside al-Shifa, our mission is health care, and we will provide it until the last moment we can,” Dr. Alshaer said.
Al-Shifa hospital has struggled to fully recover following Israel’s previous assaults on the hospital. Currently, the hospital has only four operation rooms and 32 ICU beds, but it receives over 800 people daily.
“The extreme shortage we have is in operational rooms; we have so many waiting operations, and the ICU is always full, and there are 20 premature babies in the NICU.” Dr. Alshaer said. He expresses his fear about the medical staff, who also witness the extreme danger.
“We’re scared for our security. Yesterday, the Israeli army assassinated someone at the hospital’s doors, which was a critical danger for all of us as we’re working in the hospital. We have lost 30% of our staff in the hospital, as some were killed, others detained, or wounded. We also have a shortage of working personnel,” he told Mondoweiss.