Dr Nasser Bulbul checks on a premature baby in the neonatal unit of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on October 22 [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Gaza City, October 24 (RHC)-- The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has warned that the electric generators in hospitals will cease functioning within the next few hours due to a fuel shortage, amid intensified air raids by Israel on the besieged enclave.
Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said in a brief statement on Telegram early on Tuesday that the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza is “slow and cannot change the reality” on the ground. “The healthcare system has reached its worst stage in its history,” he added.
On Monday, the ministry said 32 health centres were out of service after Israel cut off access to essential supplies, including fuel, as it carries out a bombing campaign that has destroyed entire neighbourhoods and brought humanitarian conditions to a breaking point.
It added that the immediate needs of hospitals must be prioritised in terms of aid distribution, urging the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to push for the delivery of supplies of fuel and blood units into the enclave.
The Indonesian Hospital, in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia area, was shut down as it could not carry out vital facilities after running out of power on Monday.
Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed the facility under darkness. Videos showed medical teams at the hospital receiving patients carried by ambulance workers while using portable flashlights. It was later reported that power was restored, but it was unclear for how long it would last.
Meanwhile, a convoy of humanitarian aid trucks delivered water, food and medicine to the Gaza Strip on Monday, the third since limited aid began flowing in on Saturday.
The UN says fuel was not included and reserves will run out within two days. Al Jazeera’s Hani Abu Isheba, reporting from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said residents were hoping that more aid trucks would be allowed into the besieged enclave.
He added that Palestinians living in the narrow strip of land were desperate for the bombardments to stop.
Israel started its intense air attacks on Gaza after an assault by Hamas, the group running the enclave, inside southern Israel on October 7 that killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians. More than 5,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s attacks, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which says about 40 percent of the victims are children.
