Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
UN And Aid Agencies Decry Israel's Airstrike On Gaza Ambulance
Reuters: U.N. And Medical Agencies Condemn Israel's Gaza Ambulance Strike
The United Nations Secretary General and aid agencies working in Gaza have condemned Israel's air strike on an ambulance on Friday, which the Israeli military said, without showing evidence, was carrying Hamas militants. The Health Ministry, a hospital director and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in the Hamas-controlled enclave have said the Israeli strike targeted a convoy of ambulances evacuating wounded people from the besieged northern Gaza area. (Al-Mughrabi, 11/4)
CNN: Israel Admits Airstrike On Ambulance Near Hospital That Witnesses Say Killed And Wounded Dozens
Israel has claimed responsibility for an attack on an ambulance outside Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in the enclave, which witnesses say killed and wounded dozens of people. ... Israel said it had targeted the ambulance because it was being used by Hamas, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). (Carey, John and Flower, 11/4)
Reuters: Turkey Says It Agreed With Egypt To Take Gaza Cancer Patients For Treatment
Turkey and Egypt have agreed for some 1,000 cancer patients and other injured civilians needing urgent care in Gaza to be sent to Turkey for treatment, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Sunday, adding work was underway to plan the move. Koca said on Thursday that Ankara was prepared to bring in cancer patients from the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital in Gaza, the enclave's only cancer treatment hospital, which went out of service after running out of fuel this week. (11/5)
AP: Israel's Fortified Underground Blood Bank Processes Unprecedented Amounts As Troops Move Into Gaza
Hours after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, the country’s new fortified, subterranean blood bank kicked into action. Staffers moved equipment into the underground bunker and started saving lives. The Marcus National Blood Services Center in Ramla, near Tel Aviv, had been scheduled to open within days, but with more than 1,400 people in Israel killed since the Hamas raids — most killed during the initial attack — the timeline changed. (Bernstein and Mednick, 11/4)
The New York Times: As Gaza Hospitals Collapse, Medical Workers Face The Hardest Choices
Every day is a choice between who lives and who dies. Doctors and nurses in Gaza’s teetering hospitals, which are nearing collapse without electricity and basic supplies, say they must now decide which patients get ventilators, who gets resuscitated, or who gets any medical treatment at all. They make snap decisions amid the screams of small children undergoing amputations or brain surgeries without anesthesia or clean water to wash their wounds. (Harouda, Abi-Habib and Bashir, 11/6)
