Israeli military attacks in the surrounding area have left patients and medical staff with an uncertain fate.
A total blackout at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, one of the last functioning medical facilities in the enclave, has put the lives of its most vulnerable patients at risk due to lack of fuel to power the generators and while the Israeli army attacked. nearby areas.
“We try to work with what we have. But we will have to stop working completely because we have no electricity,” a doctor at the hospital told Tel Aviv Tribune. “There is a total breakdown, so how can we treat patients?
Premature babies and newborns, as well as patients in intensive care units, were particularly at risk. The Gaza government’s media office said in a statement that they were at extreme risk of death.
Earlier footage showed medical staff in dark rooms trying to work with flashlights.
“We have worked on cell phone light to take care of the condition of children in intensive care, and the devices work on secondary power, and if they stop, children lose their lives,” said Dr. Warda al-Awawdeh, who works in the nursery unit.
One doctor said: “All we can do is provide primary care. It’s very hard for us as medical staff.
Many of the babies in the facility “are malnourished, they are underweight. They can easily get sick or even die, God forbid,” said another doctor. “We have three babies in the incubators and 10 more in the other room.”
Thousands of displaced people have taken refuge in central Deir el-Balah as Israeli bombardment of the coastal enclave continues, with at least 151 people killed on Friday.
The Gaza Health Ministry said on Saturday that at least 23,843 people had been killed and 60,317 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7.
“Huge implications”
James Smith, an emergency physician with Palestinian Medical Aid who recently worked at Al-Aqsa, said the power outage would significantly hamper the facility’s ability to provide medical care to patients and admit those who are asking for help.
“A hospital cannot function without electricity. This is a fundamental requirement for the operation of any healthcare facility,” Smith told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“So this has huge implications in terms of the ability to provide ongoing clinical care to patients, to patients currently in hospital, but also to the hospital’s ability to accept new patients or transfer them safely to other locations. other health establishments.”
At the same time, the hospital is also increasingly feeling the effects of the expansion of Israeli military ground operations in central Gaza.
“The surroundings of the hospital were widely attacked by the Israeli army, as a number of residential buildings were destroyed there, and the hospital is in an area considered a combat zone,” said Tareq Abu Tel Aviv Tribune’s Azzoum. reported in Gaza.
“With the expansion of Israeli military operations… the hospital could be exposed to new threats,” he said on Saturday.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said on Friday that the health system in Gaza was “in a state of collapse”, adding that women could not give birth safely and children could not get vaccinated. “The sick and injured cannot be treated. Infectious diseases are on the rise,” he said in his speech to the UN Security Council.
“There is no safe place in Gaza. A dignified human life is almost impossible.