Images of an ambulance carrying civilians and a child hit by an apparent Israeli airstrike have been released by the Palestinian humanitarian organization Red Crescent.
In the video, several people crammed into the back of an ambulance are heard screaming as a missile hits a nearby target, causing a powerful explosion.
The vehicle was packed with Gaza medics, as well as several civilians who had squeezed into the van to take cover as the Israeli air force continued its bombardment across the 25-mile strip of land.
Fearing that the next bomb would cause a direct hit on the vehicle, the camera holder jumps out of the van and sprints down the road, apparently hoping to find sturdier shelter.
As he sprints away, his lens sees debris littering the street, with blown-out car wrecks, some still on fire, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air.
The images emerged as the World Health Organization warned on Monday that there were only “24 hours of water, electricity and fuel” left in the Gaza Strip before “a real catastrophe” would occur.
Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said the bombed and besieged area should be able to receive aid convoys, which are currently stuck at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
If help doesn’t arrive, doctors “will have to prepare death certificates for their patients,” he said.
Panic ensued in the ambulance as the occupants narrowly avoided an Israeli attack. Doctors and injured civilians alike can be seen piled into the back of the van, screaming as the explosions echo around them
Children view a destroyed ambulance parked along a street in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
A medic runs while carrying an injured Palestinian child to the ambulance
Palestinians work to clear the rubble of a collapsed building after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on October 16, 2023
Members of a Palestinian civilian emergency team carry the body of one of their colleagues, who was killed in Israeli attacks, to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on October 16, 2023
Palestinians carry a man found under the rubble of a house destroyed during Israeli attacks to an ambulance in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 16, 2023
The Israeli army has been pounding the Gaza Strip with unprecedented firepower since the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules the enclave, launched the biggest attack on Israel since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, killing more than 1,300 people.
Authorities in Gaza said at least 2,750 people have been killed by the Israeli strikes so far, including a quarter of them children, and nearly 10,000 have been injured. Another 1,000 people were missing and believed to be buried under the rubble.
More than a million people have fled their homes ahead of an expected Israeli ground invasion aimed at destroying Hamas after its fighters rampaged through southern Israel.
Hospitals in Gaza now warn they are on the brink of collapse, with emergency generators powering machines such as ventilators and incubators nearly depleting fuel and supplies of medicine for about one day.
The WHO said hospitals are “overcrowded” as people seek safety.
“We are concerned about disease outbreaks due to mass displacement and poor water and sanitation,” the report said.
Four hospitals in northern Gaza are no longer functioning and 21 have been given Israeli orders to evacuate. Doctors have refused, saying it would mean death for critically ill patients and newborns on ventilators.
The WHO said water shortages caused by Israel’s decision to cut off water supplies, coupled with a lack of fuel for pumps and desalination stations, are putting thousands of hospital patients at risk.
‘Water is necessary to guarantee hygienic conditions in inpatient wards, operating rooms and emergency rooms. It is essential for the prevention of nosocomial infections and for the prevention of outbreaks in hospitals,” the WHO said.
Hamas, meanwhile, has urged people to stay in their homes, and the Israeli army released photos on Sunday showing a Hamas roadblock blocking traffic from moving south.
A rescuer rescues a gas cylinder from the rubble of a building after it was hit by an Israeli attack in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 15, 2023
A Palestinian man walks amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israeli airstrikes near his home in the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza Strip
Palestinians search for victims under the rubble of a house destroyed during Israeli attacks in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 16, 2023
Relatives of Palestinian civil defense officer killed in Israeli attacks mourn at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza Strip, Gaza, on October 16, 2023
Members of a Palestinian civilian emergency team respond as they look at their colleague killed in Israeli attacks, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on October 16, 2023
Palestinians search for victims under the rubble of a house destroyed during Israeli attacks in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 16, 2023
As supplies of food, water and medicine in Gaza dwindle, all eyes are on the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, where trucks carrying desperately needed aid have been waiting for days as mediators push for a ceasefire that would allow them Gaza to enter and foreigners to leave.
Rafah, Gaza’s only link with Egypt, was closed almost a week ago due to Israeli airstrikes.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Israel “has not taken a position to open the border crossing from Gaza.” The Israeli government did not respond to a request for comment.
British officials are working with Egyptian authorities in an effort to facilitate British and dual citizens, as well as their spouses and children, to leave Gaza through the border.
However, government expectations regarding the opening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt remain very low.
Defense Secretary James Heappey warned that it is important to be “cautious that reports may be more optimistic than reality.”
And Prime Minister Rishi Sunak acknowledged it is a ‘worrying time for many families who will have loved ones affected or missing’, with around 10 British hostages held by Hamas.
During a visit to a Jewish secondary school in north London, the Prime Minister told broadcasters: ‘TThe humanitarian situation is one that we are obviously concerned about, and one that I have raised in all the calls and interactions I have had with other leaders from across the region.
“And especially by ensuring that we can try to open the Rafah crossing, that will alleviate the humanitarian situation.”
Mr Sunak raised the border crossing in a phone call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi last week, and it is understood that opening the border to foreigners and to Palestinian refugees could be dealt with separately.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘We believe this is important, both in the interests of British nationals and others, but also important for the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.’
Israel has said the siege will not be lifted until Hamas releases all 199 prisoners it is believed to have captured in last week’s attacks.
