Apocalyptic

"The situation is apocalyptic:" Nurse describes desperate conditions at central Gaza hospital

From CNN's Sophie Tanno

A Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) nurse working at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza has described scenes of pandemonium amid an escalating Israeli offensive in the area.

The hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, which is operating at three times its clinical capacity, has received more than 300 wounded patients and 70 bodies since Tuesday.

Among them are the victims of the Israeli airstrike on a United Nations-run school in central Gaza, which was housing thousands of displaced people.

MSF nurse Karin Huster said there had been an "insane escalation of hostilities" across the Gaza Strip in the past 48 hours.

"We have seen hospitals being bombed. We have seen refugee camps being bombed. We have seen humanitarian warehouses being bombed. The situation is apocalyptic," she said.

Describing the situation at Al-Aqsa, Huster said: "There was a man screaming for his family that had died in the last 24 hours. This hospital, which is — I don't know how —but is still functioning, received over 70 dead bodies and well over 300 wounded patients, many of them critically injured.

"The odor of blood when I entered the emergency room was just overwhelming. People are lying on the floor. People are lying outside. People are lying in extensions of the emergency department in tents, bodies being brought in white plastic bags, the families standing over them and praying."

She added: "It's just an emotionally overwhelming situation, and it's difficult."