AID groups that visited a packed Gaza hospital described an “unimaginable” situation in which large open wounds were left untreated.

An emergency medical team organised by three aid groups spent two weeks carrying out surgeries and other care at the European Gaza Hospital near Khan Younis.

The southern city has been the site of heavy fighting since the beginning of the year with the hospital expanding to 1000 beds from its original capacity of 200 to accommodate patients from Nasser Hospital – the main hospital in Khan Younis which Israeli forces raided last month.

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There are an estimated 22,000 people currently sheltering at the European Gaza Hospital.

The visiting surgeons “reported large infected open wounds on patients and having to administer emergency nutritional supplies to patients as the lack of food was jeopardising patient treatment".

The emergency medical team was organised by Medical Aid for Palestinians, the International Rescue Committee and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

In a statement released on Monday, the team said healthcare workers had been forced to evacuate or were unable to access the hospital.

It said Israeli restrictions had led to shortages of medical supplies, including basics like gauze and plates and screws used to stabilise broken bones.

Elsewhere, the UN agency UNRWA has said Israel has barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest.

Sam Rose, the agency’s planning director, said: “An independent authority warned last week of an imminent famine and people are already dying of starvation up in the north.

“And this is essentially a dead sentence on many of those people. The situation is particularly harsh in northern Gaza, where we estimate that about 250,000 people have been trapped.”

He also stressed that “more people will die” if UNRWA is continued to be prevented from delivering aid.

Reports have also suggested that Palestinians who fled the ongoing siege of al-Shifa Hospital were crushed by Israeli tanks.

One witness, Jameel al-Ayoubi, said that armoured bulldozers and tanks drove over at least four bodies in the hospital courtyard, the Associated Press news agency reports.

The Israeli army says there have been around 500 arrests since the week-old operation began at Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital.

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Jets also attacked around 50 targets throughout the Gaza Strip overnight with a military statement saying helicopters and drones struck several other targets and killed around 10 Hamas fighters.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians and experts warn that even more are at risk of dying from disease and starvation.