The UN shelters in Gaza are experiencing a shortage of water. Medics are concerned about the well-being of patients due to the impending Israeli ground offensive.

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Water has run out at U.N. shelters across Gaza as thousands packed into the courtyard of the besieged territory’s largest hospital as a refuge of last resort from a looming Israeli ground offensive and overwhelmed doctors struggled to care for patients they fear will die once generators run out of fuel.

Palestinian civilians across Gaza, already battered by years of conflict, were struggling for survival Sunday in the face of an unprecedented Israeli operation against the territory following a Hamas militant attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,300 Israelis, most of them civilians.

Israel has halted the supply of essential resources like food, medicine, water, and electricity to Gaza. They have also launched airstrikes on residential areas and instructed approximately 1 million people in the north to evacuate to the south in anticipation of their planned assault. The Gaza Health Ministry has reported a death toll of over 2,300 Palestinians since the conflict began last weekend.

Relief organizations have appealed for the safeguarding of more than 2 million individuals residing in Gaza, advocating for the creation of an emergency pathway to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

Dr. Mohammed Qandeel, who is employed at Nasser Hospital in the southern Khan Younis region, expressed concern about the current escalation. He highlighted the absence of external medical assistance due to closed borders and the lack of electricity, which poses a significant threat to their patients.

Medical professionals within the area designated for evacuation expressed their inability to transfer their patients securely, thus opting to remain in order to provide them with necessary medical attention.

PHOTOS: Water runs out at UN shelters in Gaza. Medics fear for patients as Israeli ground offensive looms

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the head of pediatrics at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, stated that they will not leave the hospital under any circumstances, even if it means sacrificing their lives.

“I cannot reword”

Other doctors feared for the lives of patients dependent on ventilators and those suffering from complex blast wounds needing around-the-clock care. Doctors worried entire hospital facilities would be shut down and many would die as the last of fuel stocks powering their generators came close to running out. United Nations humanitarian monitors estimated this could happen by Monday.

At Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the heart of the evacuation zone, medical officials estimated at least 35,000 men, women and children crammed into the large open grounds, in the lobby and in the hallways, hoping the location would give them protection from the fighting. “Their situation is very difficult,” said hospital director Mohammed Abu Selmia.

He stated that the hospital receives hundreds of injured individuals on a daily basis.

Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the UNRWA, revealed that approximately 500,000 people in Gaza have sought shelter in U.N. facilities and are facing a severe water shortage. She expressed concern over the depleting water resources in Gaza and mentioned that the U.N. teams have started implementing water rationing measures.

In the last 24 hours, Touma reported that around 250,000 individuals in Gaza have relocated to shelters. The majority of these shelters are U.N. schools, where there is currently a shortage of clean water, as stated by Inas Hamdan, a spokesperson for UNRWA.

Many families in Gaza are limiting their water usage due to the scarcity of clean water, resulting in some having to consume contaminated or salty water.

Shaima al-Farra, in Khan Younis, expressed her joy at being able to brush her teeth today and reflected on the progress we have made.