Gaza's healthcare system has passed the "point of no return," the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement Friday.
"Overstretched, running on thin supplies and increasingly unsafe, the healthcare system in Gaza has reached a point of no return risking the lives of thousands of wounded, sick and displaced people," the ICRC warned.
Recent "attacks on medical facilities and personnel" have dealt a "heavy blow" to the healthcare system in Gaza, “which is severely weakened after more than one month of heavy fighting," according to the group.
The ICRC highlighted the situation at the "largest referral hospital in the Gaza Strip," the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said in a statement sent to CNN Saturday that al-Shifa was now “out of service”, with the fifth floor of the surgery building heavily shelled and medical staff unable to move within the complex.
CNN has reached out to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for comment on the situation at al-Shifa. The IDF has previously accused Hamas of using civilian infrastructure such as hospitals as bases for launching attacks.
The UN children's rights organization UNICEF said Friday that the lives of the one million children in Gaza are currently "hanging by a thread" citing two other hospitals in northern Gaza.
"Over the past 24-hours, medical care at Al-Rantisi and Al-Nasr children’s hospitals has reportedly almost ceased, with only a small generator powering the intensive care and neonatal intensive care units," UNICEF said.
Hospitals on the frontline: On Friday, the director of the Al Nasr hospital and Al Rantisi Pediatric hospital, told CNN on Friday that his hospital complexes had been "completely surrounded" by Israeli tanks.
“We do not have electricity, no oxygen for the patients. We do not have medicine and water,” Mustafa al-Kahlout said.
With fighting raging in Gaza City, other hospitals reported strikes in their vicinity.
As well as providing medical services, hospitals are sheltering thousands of Palestinians .
