A 22-year-old law student from Jabalya Refugee Camp, Bashir spoke in a testimony about the situation at a-Shifaa Hospital in Gaza City:
After the war began, my family and I, eight people, stayed at home in Jabalya Refugee Camp, along with other relatives who live in the building. It was rough. We heard bombing from the air and shelling from tanks day and night, and could hardly sleep. There was also a shortage of food and water.
On 9 November 2023, at around 7:00 A.M., our building was bombed and the apartment of our relative Nabil Abu al-Fahem was destroyed. His wife Ruqayah and his sons Yasin, Majed, Mazen and Muhammad were killed. Nabil himself was seriously injured. His nephew, Muhammad Kamal Abu al-Fahem, was seriously injured in the head, back, arms and legs. After the bombing, my family left and went to stay with relatives in the south. I stayed behind to be with Muhammad Abu al-Fahem in hospital. On the day of the attack, he was taken to the Indonesian Hospital. The next day, he was transferred to a-Shifaa Hospital. While he was being transferred, there was a bombing next to the ambulance.
Now we’re at a-Shifaa Hospital. A few days ago, the Israeli military shelled the courtyard and people were killed and injured. Then they hit the hospital’s solar panels and the surgical ward. There was massive gunfire around the hospital, and people sheltering here were hit. After that, some of the people who were sheltering here left. The dead bodies stayed in the courtyard and it’s too dangerous to go get them in order to bury them. There are tanks about 120 meters away from the entrance to the hospital. Behind them, there were other people were injured and couldn’t get to the hospital, and more bodies. We hear sniper fire all the time and it’s dangerous to step outside. I don’t know of any coordination to evacuate patients and staff from the compound. No one is coming in or out. We can’t sleep and can only follow what’s happening in fear. There isn’t enough staff here – doctors, nurses, volunteers.
The situation here is terrible. We can barely get hold of water and food. The power comes and goes, and I don’t know where it’s coming from. I gather the oxygen reserves are running out, and several intensive care patients died yesterday. Everywhere you turn there is nothing but pain and blood. We feel like the walking dead. The courtyard is full of bodies and the entire hospital reeks of death. There is also the stench of garbage piling up.
Update: Muhammad Kamal Abu al-Fahem died of his wounds at a-Shifaa Hospital on 19 Nov. 2023. As of that time, Bashir Rizeq is still in the hospital compound.
• Testimony fivento B'Tselem field researcher Muhammad Sabah by phone on 13 Nov. 2023