Gaza hospitals will face shutdown within 48 hours: Health Ministry

ISTANBUL

The Gaza Health Ministry cautioned on Sunday that hospitals and oxygen stations across the strip will cease operations within 48 hours due to fuel depletion caused by the ongoing Israeli war.

In a statement, the ministry warned that “the remaining hospitals, health centers, and oxygen stations will stop working within 48 hours.”

The ministry noted that this situation is anticipated "due to the depletion of fuel required for operating generators, which Israel restricts from entering Gaza, along with other essential supplies such as medicine and food, as part of tightening restrictions on the Strip."

It indicated that the fuel supply is nearly depleted, "despite the stringent austerity measures implemented by the ministry to conserve the remaining stock for as long as possible, given the insufficient quantities available for operation."

The ministry urged "all relevant international and humanitarian organizations to promptly intervene by supplying the required fuel, as well as electrical generators and necessary spare parts for maintenance."

On Friday, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, Hossam Abu Safiya, said that the hospital would cease operations imminently due to a shortage of fuel required for its electrical generators, exacerbated by Israel's cessation of electricity supply to the Gaza Strip.

Abu Safiya told Anadolu: “If fuel isn't secured within hours, we will be forced to announce the closure of the sole hospital in northern Gaza, risking the lives of patients, including children in the pediatric ward."

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

More than 37,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 86,800 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi