Doctors at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, after years of bloody conflict, are used to dealing with large numbers of injured people streaming into their emergency room, according to dpa. But never have they seen such a tidal wave of casualties flood the hospital as now, resulting from Israel's ongoing Operation "Cast Lead." The operation, which entered its third day Monday, has thus far killed more than 345 Palestinians and injured 1,600 others - the highest death toll since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Two Israelis were also killed. That is already three times as many as Operation "Hot Winter" a five-day Israeli air and ground offensive in Gaza in February-March of this year, which according to the human rights group B'Tselem killed 106 Palestinians. A few hundred were injured in that offensive, while two Israeli soldiers were also killed. Israel's "Defensive Shield" Operation, a major West Bank offensive launched in the spring of 2002 after a wave of deadly suicide bombings, killed 497 Palestinians in more then one month, according to a UN fact-finding committee. Just over 1,400 Palestinians were injured throughout that one month and one week, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service, while some 28 Israeli soldiers were also killed. The yard outside Shifa, the largest hospital in the coastal enclave, is chaotic as the families of the casualties, clustered in groups, argue with Hamas policemen guarding the teeming building to allow them inside and see their loved ones. For the first time ever, the hospital has stopped using the morgue, says Raed al-Arini, an aide to the director. It can store 30 corpses under normal circumstances and each sliding shelf already contains up to three bodies. The mourning families have also been urged to bury the dead quickly for fear of epidemics. The hospital has a capacity of 585 beds, but is currently treating 700, many of whom are lying on mattresses on the floor. An additional 400 moderately wounded people had to be sent away to other clinics, says al-Arini. The wounded people carried through the sliding doors of the emergency room include many Hamas people in security uniforms, but also little boys and girls. "We can't escape our work," says Ahmad Hasouna, 22, a bearded officer guarding the entrance of the emergency department. "We have to help the doctors keep the situation here calm," adds the young officer, who joined the police only last year, three months after Hamas took control of Gaza Strip. He and his colleagues try to prevent a recurrence of the chaos of the first day of the offensive on Saturday, when more than 185 dead and hundreds of wounded arrived at the hospital practically at the same time, creating disorder. The policemen prevent the crowds from entering, but they do not succeed for long: Whenever the Israeli airplanes strike a new target, civilian vehicles rush to the hospitals even before the ambulances arrive, transporting more casualties. The anxious relatives take advantage to slip into the reception department, along with the frantic youths who accompany the casualties inside. "Despite the efforts of the police, we still can't perform our jobs easily," says Iman, a new graduate nurse. In addition to the overcrowding, she says they suffer from shortages in "every kind of medical supplies and drugs." The Israeli raids chase the wounded people even into the hospital. Early on Sunday, F16 fighter jets dropped two bombs on a mosque on the other side of the road, sending shrapnel and debris flying toward the hospital. In the intensive care room, smashed glass fell on those hovering between life and death.
