Severe fuel shortages have caused power outages at Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in central Gaza, with hospital officials warning that many sick and injured patients face certain death if supplies run out. necessary for the operation of medical equipment and generators are not replenished.
The Deir el-Balah hospital received 15,000 liters (4,000 gallons) of fuel on Friday morning, but this will only last for a few more days, Tel Aviv Tribune journalists in Gaza said. Overnight, the shortage forced medical staff to work in a near-dark environment, with doctors using the light from their cell phones while caring for premature babies.
“We have hundreds of patients, including the injured and those diagnosed with kidney failure who need electricity for their dialysis treatment,” Iyad al-Jabri, medical director of Al- Aqsa, in a press release.
“All patients will be sentenced to death. Especially those who are in intensive care, in incubators and those who depend on dialysis treatment,” he added.
The hospital requires more than 4,000 liters (1,000 gallons) of fuel each day to continue operations and care for its patients. Al-Jabri said any help they can offer patients will “completely stop” without fuel.
“We are calling on international organizations to send 50,000 liters (13,200 gallons) of fuel before a crisis occurs here,” he added.
Israel’s months-long siege of Gaza destroyed or left most hospitals out of service. Those that have remained open, including Al-Aqsa, are barely functioning, with supplies of medicine and fuel almost exhausted due to an influx of patients.
Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s health system, as well as its refusal to treat Palestinian patients, are considered war crimes according to legal experts and human rights groups. On Friday, the International Court of Justice will issue a ruling on Israel’s military offensive in Rafah after South Africa approached the court to order Israel to stop it.
At Al-Aqsa, hospital spokesperson Khalil al-Deqran told Tel Aviv Tribune that medical staff resorted to manual use of some equipment to be able to treat patients.
“This crisis is everywhere. We are suffering a lot from this crisis,” al-Deqran said.
“This will lead to the death of many sick and injured people,” he said, adding that some patients are being treated in the hospital due to lack of space and overcrowding.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting outside Al-Aqsa Hospital, described the situation as “becoming dire” by the day.
Other hospitals targeted
As Al-Aqsa went dark overnight, other hospitals in northern Gaza also face greater threats due to Israeli bombing.
Abu Azzoum reported that Kamal Adwan Hospital was hit twice by Israeli artillery during the night, while al-Awda Hospital was hit at least once. Both hospitals have been hit several times by Israeli forces in recent months.
“Doctors at al-Awda hospital told us that Israeli soldiers destroyed everything, including the hospital gates, while they used loudspeakers to order patients and their families to flee” , did he declare.
Some doctors refused to leave until the Israeli army brought ambulances that could help critically ill patients get to the western part of Gaza City, or at least to a place where they could receive appropriate medical treatment.
Israeli forces also reportedly targeted other areas of northern Gaza, striking both the al-Faluja area of the Jabalia camp and the neighboring al-Fakhoura area.
At least two people were also reported killed in the az-Zawadya area in central Gaza.
Further south, the Israeli army is closing in on the outskirts of the Shaboura area of the Rafah refugee camp, where rocket and artillery fire can be heard, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.
Israeli military vehicles also headed towards the densely populated Yibna area, west of Rafah.
Just outside Rafah, Israeli quadcopters reportedly fly over the European Gaza Hospital, the largest operational hospital in southern Gaza.