'Where is the world?': Northern Gaza hospital staff warn of 'humanitarian catastrophe' in SOS calls

Warning: This story contains distressing details

By Roohi Hasan, ITV News Senior Producer

The last few days in northern Gaza have been described by some doctors as "off the scale" in terms of how critical the situation has become.

Food and water are running short and, in some parts, have run out as supplies have not been allowed to enter northern Gaza for almost an entire month.

The worst hit areas include the packed Jabaliya refugee camp and the three remaining hospitals as they try to treat the rising numbers of injured. As the attacks over the north grow unabated, many of the casualties include children and babies. 

The United Nations (UN) confirmed this week that their staff in the north had issued an SOS, highlighting "desperate conditions with no food, water, or medical care".

They said "people are left abandoned, living in fear of death every moment", and urgently called for "an immediate truce to allow safe passage and protect lives".

One northern hospital director simply shared: "Where is the world?!"

He continued: "We are being shot from all sides, people are afraid, and the situation is disastrous, they kill people in the streets. We will not leave the hospital, and we will not leave the injured."

Anna Halford, Emergency Coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, told ITV News that medical staff in northern Gaza are watching patients die because they are unable to keep powering hospital generators

Speaking to ITV News from inside Gaza, Anna Halford, Emergency Coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) shared what her staff have been telling her.

She said: "The situation they report is very bad. It is catastrophic in terms of the situation for the population and for the [healthcare] system in general."

Asked to summarise the current situation in northern Gaza, Ms Halford described it "as an unforgivable, relentless campaign against a population, who do not have another choice".

ITV News has been receiving SOS messages from medical staff inside different hospitals in northern Gaza directly or via British-run charities and British doctors here in the UK, who are in regular contact with them or other Gaza non-government organisations (NGOs) and doctors. To protect their security, ITV News has removed their names.

One hospital nurse in northern Gaza sent a voice note to ITV News, describing the conditions they are facing on a daily basis

Staff in the hospitals under siege say they have been told if they film they will be shot so they have been trying to update the world through voice notes.

One staff nurse, who can be heard in audible distress, said: "The water is empty in the hospital. And the food maybe we have for one or two days.

"We are so so tired. We are so tired. I can't explain how tired we are. Two patients have died and maybe tomorrow another two may die. 

"We don't have water. We contacted the Israeli armed forces to let us get water from the tank, but they don't accept until now. And we don't know what will happen from tomorrow. 

"I am so tired. The situation is very bad."

The next day he sent a separate voice note, saying: "Today we don't have water. We are thirsty. 

"Maybe there is still a little of bottles of water. Maybe by morning every bottle will be empty. 

"They don't let us turn electricity on to fill the tank of water."

'The situation is catastrophic. This is what our ICU looks like tonight'

Warning: The below video contains material that some viewers may find distressing

ITV News received footage of one medic looking after several babies in intensive care. He managed to film the shocking scenes around him of several burnt babies, voicing over the latest update on each.

"It's now fifteen mins before dawn. A little bit earlier a massacre occurred in Beit Lahia," he said.

"As you can see most of the cases we have received are children.  

"These children are in a very critical condition.   

"This child has a shrapnel in the chest. It went through the lungs and is in the stomach.

"This child also arrived with severe burns covering more than 70% of his body. His situation is very critical, as well as his brother lay down in the bed next to him."

The doctor also showed and spoke about a two-month-old baby - who we have decided not to show - and said she had a broken skull and had died.

He said: "Unfortunately, we could not save her. She was killed along with her entire family."

In a clip sent to ITV News, one paediatrician working for Children Not Numbers in southern Gaza said his colleagues in the territory's north are feeling 'under severe siege'

One Gazan paediatrician working for British-run NGO Children Not Numbers did manage to send us a video with great difficulty by using his generator briefly for light.

He was keen to share what his friends and colleagues working in northern Gaza hospitals had been telling him.

"The situation in northern Gaza hospitals is beyond critical and worse than any time before," he said.

"Most of the hospitals are no longer functioning. 

"My doctor friend in an Indonesian hospital is under severe siege and is surrounded by tanks."

He also says there is a lack of basic essentials, witnessing patients on the edge of death who could be saved.

"Some patients undergoing surgical procedures without anaesthesia," he added. 

"The closure of the crossings is making it harder than anytime before.  

"This is a humanitarian catastrophe. The world needs to know. The world needs to act."

ITV News has approached the Israeli government for comment.

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