Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) staff working at Gaza’s Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, warn that Israel’s restrictions on fuel entry are threatening the lives of critically ill children, infants and other patients.
Gaza’s largest partially functioning hospital will likely shut down within 48 hours and, without fresh fuel supplies, essential hospital operations will be forced to stop, endangering the lives of critically ill patients, including children and newborns in intensive care.
Currently, Nasser Hospital is rationing fuel and prioritising power for operating theatres, pediatric, and neonatal intensive care units. There are currently 13 patients, including three children, in the hospital that rely on mechanical ventilation, and 17 newborns depending on incubators for survival. Wider hospital facilities are restricted to minimal lighting and rely on a smaller generator and solar systems during daylight hours.
Mohammed Aghaalkurdi, MAP's Medical Programme Lead in Gaza, said: “The situation is critical. Without additional fuel, this hospital will shut down in less than 48 hours, leaving critically ill patients – children in ventilators, newborns in incubators, and others in need of urgent care – facing imminent death.”
“We are running out of time. Power cuts are already disrupting care and we are forced to prioritise only the most crucial areas while the rest of the hospital falls into darkness. The entry of fuel is a matter of life and death.”
Nasser Hospital requires 5,500 litres of fuel daily to operate at its necessary capacity. But restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities permit only 15,000 litres of fuel every three days and prohibit the refilling of the hospital’s main or reserve fuel tanks. The hospital, the largest in southern Gaza, currently has approximately 10,000 litres of fuel remaining – enough to operate its generators for 48 hours even with severe rationing.
Less than half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partially functional and only one partially functioning hospital remains for the whole of the population of North Gaza.
MAP urgently calls on the international community, including the UK Government, to demand Israel allows adequate fuel supplies into Gaza to sustain crucial operations at Nasser Hospital and other healthcare facilities. We also demand the protection of hospitals and accountability for those responsible for the systematic dismantling of Gaza’s health system which is making Palestinian survival impossible.
The UK must uphold international humanitarian law and not be complicit in attacks on, and obstruction of, healthcare which result in preventable deaths of children and newborns. The UK must stop being an ally to Israel's atrocities in Gaza.
ENDS
About Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
MAP’s team in Gaza were among the first to respond to the current emergency and remain one of the only international organisations working to provide humanitarian and medical services, including in the north.
Following an Israeli military siege and attacks which forced it to shut down, MAP has supported the rehabilitation of Nasser Hospital. We have redeveloped the general surgery and orthopaedic surgery departments, the intensive care unit, operating theatres, and hemodialysis and sterilisation services, as well as the departments of internal medicine, IT, pharmacy and maintenance. MAP has also worked to enhance infection prevention and control measures and provide staff incentives.