Days after being hurt by Israeli shelling and with little chance of receiving proper medical care, Hazem Farjallah sobs as he lies in the Gaza hospital corridor with his aunt by his side and his head bandaged.
Ten-year-old Hazem has been silent since being hurt during Thursday's attack on a United Nations school that was being used as a shelter; his head, chest, and back are all clearly marked with shrapnel wounds.
His suffering demonstrates the appalling state of Gaza's damaged, understaffed, and ill-equipped hospitals eight months after Israel's military campaign against Hamas following the group's onslaught on Israeli communities on October 7.
The breakdown of Gaza's health system in the face of intense Israeli bombardment has made the situation more complicated with numerous further disasters, such as the hunger crisis and the spread of disease. People with long-term illnesses are now unable to get basic care.
However, the war has also resulted in unexpected surges of severely wounded patients into the few hospitals that are still open, overwhelming medical staff members who are already dealing with inadequate space and horrific injuries.
There aren't sufficient stands in the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, to support the IV drips where Hazem is lying injured. According to Hazem's aunt, in order for the medication to flow, she had to hold the packet up.
Similar observations were recorded by other hospitalized injured patients, some of whom were seen lying with a relative or friend while holding the medication pack high.
The injured were positioned between beds and along the interior passageways. The hospital has no space at all for injured patients, who were made to sleep outside in tents. The number of injured patients at the hospital had increased four or five times over the available beds.
There are injured people in critical condition. Tawfik, the four-year-old son of Raed Abu Youssef, was struck by shrapnel in the head on Saturday during Israel's assault on the Nuseirat refugee camp while hostages were being freed.
After being brought to the hospital, his injuries were so severe that the family thought he had passed away since they could not discover a pulse. As Abu Youssef learned that Tawfik was still alive at the al-Aqsa hospital, he was really tilling the child's grave.
His wounds, however, continue to endanger his life and will undoubtedly alter it.
According to surgeon Omar Abu Taqia, he would lose a portion of his brain, and there would be a need for more thorough monitoring. He said that they can't do much more, but it's good that they managed to save his life.