Severe fuel shortages have caused power outages at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, and hospital officials have warned that many sick and injured patients face certain death if they are not replenished. the supplies needed to run medical equipment and generators.
Early Friday, the Deir el-Balah hospital received 15,000 liters (4,000 gallons) of fuel, but that will only last a few more days, Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza said. Overnight, shortages forced medical workers to work in a near-dark environment, with doctors using the light on their cell phones while caring for premature babies.
“We have hundreds of patients, including the injured and those who are diagnosed with kidney failure and need electricity for their dialysis treatment,” Iyad al-Jabri, Al-Aqsa's medical director, said in a statement on Friday.
“All patients will be sentenced to death. Especially those who are in the ICU, incubators and those who depend on dialysis treatment,” he added.
The hospital needs more than 1,000 gallons (4,000 liters) of fuel each day to continue operations and care for patients. Al-Jabri said any help they can offer patients will “completely stop” without fuel.
“We call on international organizations to send 50,000 liters [13,200 gallons] of fuel before there is an imminent crisis here,” he added.
The months-long Israeli siege of Gaza has destroyed or put out of service most hospitals. Those that have remained open, including Al-Aqsa, are barely functioning and supplies of medicine and fuel are almost running out amid an overflow of patients.
Israel's destruction of Gaza's health system, as well as its denial of treatment to Palestinian patients, are considered war crimes according to legal experts and human rights groups. On Friday, the International Court of Justice will rule on Israel's military offensive in Rafah after South Africa approached the court to order Israel to stop.
At Al-Aqsa, hospital spokesperson Khalil al-Deqran told Al Jazeera that medical staff have resorted to manually operating some equipment in order to treat patients.
“This crisis is everywhere. We suffer a lot because of 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 on the hospital floor due to lack of space and overcrowding.
Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting outside Al-Aqsa Hospital, described the situation as “becoming dire” by the day.
Other hospitals attacked
While Al-Aqsa went dark overnight, other hospitals in northern Gaza also face more serious threats due to Israeli bombing.
Abu Azzoum reported that the Kamal Adwan hospital was hit twice by Israeli artillery during the night, while the al-Awda hospital was hit at least once. Both hospitals have been repeatedly attacked by Israeli forces over the past few months.
“Doctors at Al Awda hospital have told us that Israeli soldiers have been destroying everything, including the doors of the hospital, while using loudspeakers to order patients and their families to flee,” he said.
Some doctors refused to leave until the Israeli army brought ambulances that could help critically ill patients reach the western side of Gaza City, or at least to a place where they could receive proper medical treatment.
Israeli forces have also reportedly attacked other areas of northern Gaza, attacking both the al-Faluja area of the Jabalia camp and the nearby al-Fakhoura area.
At least two people were also reported dead in the az-Zawadya area of central Gaza.
Further south, the Israeli army is inching closer to the outskirts of the Shaboura area of the Rafah refugee camp, where rocket and artillery fire can be heard, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israeli military vehicles had also headed towards the densely populated area of Jibna, west of Rafah.
Just outside Rafah, Israeli quadcopters are said to be flying over the European Gaza Hospital, the largest operating hospital in southern Gaza.
