5:51 PM ET, October 27, 2023
Witnesses at the hospital say Gaza was cut off from the outside world during the bombing
From CNN’s Karim Khader
Gaza has been “left in the dark with no contact with the outside world,” an eyewitness told CNN at Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
A witness says the bodies of many of those killed and wounded in Friday night’s intense bombardment of central Gaza have arrived at hospitals. They added that casualties are expected to rise.
Bombings in central Gaza are concentrated in Deir al-Bala Nusirat Refugee Camp And Al Jawaita, the eyewitness said, now has “intense bombing”. Al-Maqassi and Al-Burij camps.
“We only see fire, we hear shelling around us, we don’t know where it’s coming from,” Salem Ahmed Ammar, who lives near Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, told CNN by phone Friday.
“The situation is very difficult and difficult. I don’t know if I will (live) to see the light of day tomorrow morning. I left my wife, the children went to her parents’ house, I came to the hospital. If we die here in different places, one of us will live, our children will live. We have to make difficult choices. We do,” said Ammar.
Another eyewitness, Allah Majhool, also speaking to CNN by phone from near the central Gazan hospital, came to the medical center after his 4-year-old niece was injured in the previous strike.
“I am near her bed, but I am shaking with fear. I cannot call my family and sisters to see them. All we hear are explosions. The east of central Gaza is very intense. It is dark, there is no communication. ; we do not know where the airstrikes and artillery are hitting,” Majhool said.
All communications in the enclave have been disrupted as a result of the airstrikes, even if those with Israeli or eSIMs have connections, according to the main Palestinian telecommunications company.
In a text message to CNN on Friday, Palestinian Medical Relief Society president Dr. Mustafa Barghouti expressed deep concern over the precarious state of medical services in the besieged area.
“Our medical work in the Gaza Strip is at great risk due to the interruption of internet and telephone communications,” Barghouti said.
CNN’s Abeer Salman and Hamdi Alkhshali reported for this post.
