ICRC: Health facilities in southern Gaza at 'breaking point'

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said today that its hospital and all health facilities in southern Gaza are at "breaking point" and unable to treat those suffering life-threatening injuries.

The organisation said in a statement that its 60-bed field hospital in Rafah is nearly at capacity following "mass casualty events", including the deadly Israeli strikes on Mawasi refugee camp over the weekend, which killed at least 90 Palestinians. The Red Cross said it took in 26 people requiring hospitalisation for shrapnel and other injuries following the attack.

It added that the overwhelming pressure was forcing doctors to make "difficult choices" on who gets treated.

"The repeated mass casualty events resulting from the unrelenting hostilities have stretched to breaking point the response capacity of our hospital - and all health facilities in southern Gaza - to care for those with life-threatening injuries," said William Schomburg, head of the ICRC's subdelegation in Gaza.