Nov. 8 (UPI) — As conditions become more dire and desperate in Gaza, doctors say they have resorted to performing emergency surgeries without anesthesia.
In addition to crucial medical supplies, officials report that food, water, and fuel are critically short, especially in the north, where little aid is able to penetrate the violent and dangerous region.
Many hospitals have been shuttered and those that are still operating are doing so with far too many patients for the staff and resources available.
And in a show of how even daily essentials are hard to come by, bakeries in Gaza have also closed, depriving desperate residents of the most basic food needs.
Now a month into the war between Israel and Hamas, Israel’s ground forces have now encircled and penetrated Gaza City, a Hamas stronghold and the northern region’s most populous area.
A month into the fighting between Israel and Hamas, Israel’s ground forces have driven a wedge through the middle of Gaza to the Mediterranean shore, cutting the coastal strip in two, and have encircled and penetrated Gaza City, the northern population center and Hamas stronghold.
Israel has said its increasingly aggressive military campaign is aimed at both destroying Hamas and rescuing more than 240 people who were abducted during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. It has resulted in thousands of deaths in Gaza, despite the United States and other allies calling for a humanitarian cease-fire in hostilities.
Nations have warned that if calls for a cease-fire continue to be ignored, the stability of the entire MIddle East is at risk.
Israel has resisted pleas for a cease-fire and said there can be no pause in the violence until Hamas releases the hostages, and has reiterated that without the destruction of Hamas, Israel cannot be assured safety from future Gazan attacks.
More than half of the two million civilians in Gaza have been displaced from their homes but are unable to escape the besieged territory. And there are no signs that the violence will end any time soon.
