Gaza, July 31 (QNA) - Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip is facing extremely dire health and humanitarian conditions amidst the mounting number of wounded and urgent medical needs due to the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Strip. This situation is limiting the hospital's capacity to provide treatment for war casualties and other patients.

Regarding this situation, the hospital's spokesperson Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran, explained in an exclusive interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA) Thursday that the number of Palestinian wounded arriving at the hospital is in the hundreds as a result of the ongoing aggression. He stressed that the emergency department is unable to accommodate the increasing number of serious injuries. Furthermore, the hospital's inpatient wards are completely full and cannot receive new patients, while all wards are overcrowded with patients beyond their operational capacity.

Al-Daqran announced that work in the hospital's operating rooms had been halted due to a lack of hospital beds. A number of patients remain hospitalized due to a lack of space to transport them. He stressed that the hospital is facing a severe shortage of essential medicines and medical supplies, in addition to the extremely difficult working conditions for healthcare workers due to scarcity of food, medical supplies, medicines, and equipment, in addition to the starvation that is devastating patients.

He pointed to a dangerous increase in cases of malnutrition among children and adolescents, explaining that already exhausted medical staff are struggling to save them.

The hospital's spokesperson also warned that the situation inside the hospital is catastrophic by all standards. He appealed to official, humanitarian, and international bodies to urgently intervene to provide the necessary support, ensure the continuity of healthcare services, and save lives. He called on the world to intervene to stop the killing of innocent civilians and allow the entry of aid and food into the Gaza Strip.

Director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, confirmed in a previous interview with QNA that the Gaza Strip's hospitals are in their worst condition, and that the bed capacity at Al-Shifa Complex has exceeded 250 percent. He explained that anesthetics will run out in the hospital and elsewhere within a few days.

Meanwhile, the occupation forces continue their aggression against Gaza and its health system by destroying hospitals and health clinics and putting them out of service, in addition to targeting medical staff, Ministry of Health cadres, and hospital directors with arrests and assassinations.

The residents of the Gaza Strip are experiencing humanitarian conditions that have reached the point of complete collapse, according to assessments and reports from UN and international institutions. Since the beginning of last March, the Israeli entity has imposed a siege and a tight closure of all crossings, preventing the entry of food and medical aid, which has led to a lack of basic food supplies in the markets, the closure of charitable kitchens, and the cessation of aid distribution from local and international institutions. (QNA)