Gaza City — Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are on the verge of collapse as fuel shortages escalate, endangering countless lives, particularly those of newborns dependent on incubators. The Indonesian hospital, a major medical facility in northern Gaza, suffered a critical blow when its main generator failed Wednesday night, as reported by local health officials.
According to Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA, medical staff are now dependent on a secondary generator, which can only power select areas of the hospital. This precarious situation arises as patient numbers swell, with many arriving from the bombed Jabalia refugee camp, which experienced significant civilian casualties earlier in the week.
ActionAid relayed a message from Bisan, a youth volunteer at Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest healthcare center in Gaza: “I’m now at the Al-Shifa Hospital, in the incubator department… more than 45 incubators just in Al-Shifa Hospital could stop. And these newborn babies could simply [die].”
The humanitarian crisis is compounded as hospitals, like those in northern Gaza, also serve as shelters for about 117,000 people displaced by the ongoing conflict. These makeshift shelters are now facing severe shortages of food, water, and basic necessities.
Zeina, a resident taking refuge in Al Quds Hospital, described the harrowing conditions, highlighting the improvised methods women are employing for personal hygiene, amid the absence of adequate facilities.
The ongoing violence has seen areas around hospitals subjected to frequent bombing, severely affecting medical services. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, the region’s medical personnel are being stretched to their limits, with a plea issued for additional medical volunteers to step forward.
Riham Jafari from ActionAid Palestine emphasized the potential disaster if fuel supplies are not replenished: “If fuel runs out in Gaza, it will be an unimaginable catastrophe for babies on incubators and those in intensive care units.”
Despite the perilous conditions and the threat of airstrikes, medical professionals continue their life-saving work, with doctors often risking their own lives in search of essential resources to keep the hospitals operational.
Bisan concluded with an urgent call for ceasefire, drawing a dire comparison: “The explosive force of the bombs [that] were dropped on Gaza during these days is more than the explosive force of Hiroshima nuclear bomb. Ceasefire now.”