The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced the "total collapse" of the health system in all hospitals in the Strip, while the World Health Organization and UNRWA called for the rapid delivery of fuel and medical supplies to Gaza.

The Undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, said that the health system in the Strip has reached the stage of complete collapse, despite hospitals opening their doors.

He added in an interview with Al Jazeera that a large portion of medicines and medical supplies have run out, and the clinical capacity of hospitals has been closed.

For his part, the General Director of Hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Dr. Muhammad Zaqout, said that 8 hospitals have stopped working since the start of the war.

Zaqout added, in an interview with Al Jazeera, that the occupation's punitive measures threaten to cut off service to some major hospitals, stressing that the lack of fuel reaching them heralds a major disaster.

For the 18th day, the Israeli occupation army continues to target the Gaza Strip with intense air strikes that destroyed entire neighborhoods and killed thousands of Palestinian civilians.

Power outage

With the gradual decline in the amount of fuel that operates hospital generators, the medical staff at the Indonesian hospital announced a power outage to the hospital located in the Beit Lahia area (north); Before returning again, which threatens to put him out of service at any time.

Pictures showed scenes of complete darkness, coinciding with the arrival of dozens of wounded people to the hospital during a period that witnessed a power outage.

The Electricity Distribution Company in the Gaza Strip called on all parties to work diligently and urgently to operate the electrical sources in the Strip quickly and continuously.

The company said, in a statement, that the lack of electricity directly threatens to stop all vital sectors from working, which will increase people’s suffering and put the lives of many at risk, especially the wounded, sick and displaced.

UN warnings

In a related context, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday that it is still unable to distribute fuel or basic life-saving health supplies to major hospitals in northern Gaza due to a lack of security guarantees.

The organization called for "an immediate ceasefire on humanitarian grounds so that health supplies and fuel can be safely delivered to all parts of the Gaza Strip."

For its part, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned that if the necessary fuel does not enter the Strip, the process of delivering aid, desalinating water, and operating hospitals will stop tomorrow, Wednesday. Tamara Al-Rifai, the agency’s spokeswoman, said, “Fuel is a very urgent matter because without fuel, you will not be able to The trucks themselves cannot move.

UNRWA continued, "Without fuel, generators cannot generate electricity for hospitals, bakeries, and the water desalination plant." United Nations organizations have made increasingly desperate appeals since Israel imposed a complete siege on the coastal strip and began a violent campaign 18 days ago to bomb and destroy residential neighborhoods, leading to the deaths of 5,800 people. Palestinians, most of them children and women, in addition to more than 15,000 injured people. Aid trucks began moving to Gaza from Egypt on Saturday after intense diplomatic efforts, but agencies say they are completely insufficient.

Half of the Strip's population of 2.2 million people suffer from lack of shelter, and many have been injured, and there is a shortage of food and clean water. The spokesman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jeremy Lawrence, said, "The aid that resumed from Egypt at the weekend is... "Just a drop in the ocean of what is needed."

Brian Lander, Deputy Head of the Emergency Department at the World Food Program, said that supporting the people of Gaza required about 465 trucks of humanitarian aid per day before the outbreak of the conflict.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies