“For many hours, we have been in contact with the relevant authorities and the World Health Organization, which is responsible for supplying fuel to the hospital, yet there has been no response to our urgent and immediate fuel supply request.”
Authorities at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the only hospital operating in central Gaza, have warned of “a health catastrophe” due to a lack of fuel supply.
Following a complete power outage at the hospital, videos were shared on the official Resistance News Network (RNN) on Friday which showed doctors trying to keep premature babies warm with their bare hands under the lights of their cellphones.
“We announce to all international and UN organizations and to the global public opinion that Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital has a storage capacity of 50,000 liters of fuel. However, the quantities supplied do not exceed one-fifth at best, noting that the hospital needs more than 4,000 liters daily to provide appropriate health services and medical care,” the hospital’s Administration said in a statement on Thursday.
Israeli forces have been surrounding Al Awda hospital for the last 4 days, and have now forced medical staff to leave.@DrMadsGilbert on what colleagues have told him about the dire situation at the hospital now. pic.twitter.com/m1koDek6eL
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) May 23, 2024
“For many hours, we have been in contact with the relevant authorities and the World Health Organization, which is responsible for supplying fuel to the hospital, yet there has been no response to our urgent and immediate fuel supply request,” the administration emphasized.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital provides medical care and health services to “more than 1,200 patients and injured individuals, including 600 kidney failure patients who need electricity for dialysis services.”
“These services will cease within hours if fuel is not supplied to the hospital…Any delay in fuel supply means a death sentence for these patients and injured individuals,” the statement stressed.
On Friday, Israeli forces surrounded the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, firing shells at the complex, according to Al-Jazeera.
Al-Awda hospital in Gaza is being forced to close following a terrifying four-day siege, the latest in a series of systematic attacks on healthcare by Israeli forces. Staff and patients were forced to leave one of the only hospitals still functioning in the north of Gaza… 1/4
— MSF International (@MSF) May 23, 2024
Al-Awda Forced to Close
Meanwhile, the Al-Awda hospital in the northern Gaza Strip is being forced to close following a terrifying four-day siege, the latest in a series of systematic attacks on healthcare by Israeli forces, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
“Staff and patients were forced to leave one of the only hospitals still functioning in the north of Gaza,” MSF said on X on Thursday.
The organization said it had been working in partnership with Al-Awda Hospital since 2018, pointing out that it had kept functioning since the start of the war “despite horrendous conditions and amid constant attacks on healthcare.”
“On 19 May, the hospital was surrounded by tanks, and staff and patients were forced to take cover under tables and beds as bullets and shelling smashed windows,” MSF said.
It stressed that Al-Awda “is a lifeline” for people in northern Gaza, adding that the hospital “must be able to continue providing care to patients: we continue to call for its protection, and that of all health facilities, patients and medical staff.”
GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY: 35,857 Palestinians have been killed, and 80,293 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
FOLLOW OUR LIVE BLOG https://t.co/fkXjx99u99 pic.twitter.com/ud5QDvkmPU
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 24, 2024
Rising Death Toll
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 35,857 Palestinians have been killed, and 80,293 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(PC, Anadolu)
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