Al-Barsh: Gaza Hospitals threatened with shutdown within 48 hours due to fuel depletion
The Director General of the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip Munir Al-Barsh warned on Tuesday of a complete shutdown of hospitals within 48 hours due to a severe fuel shortage.
Al-Barsh confirmed that a shutdown would herald an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe explaining that the entity has destroyed or disabled 38 hospitals since the start of the war with only 13 remaining partially operational amid an inability to meet the needs of thousands of patients and wounded according to the Palestinian Shehab Agency.
Al-Barsh clarified that the Israeli enemy continues to directly target health facilities having bombed Hamad Rehabilitation Hospital putting it completely out of service as well as destroying Al-Rantisi Hospital for Children Al-Ayn Hospital and a medical relief health center in central Gaza City.
He indicated that the remaining fuel is only sufficient to operate vital departments for a brief period warning of mass deaths for patients and premature infants if incubators respirators and intensive care units stop functioning.
He noted that the Israeli enemy s deliberate targeting of hospitals and medical teams has led to the martyrdom of 1723 workers in the health sector.
Al-Barsh called on international institutions to act urgently to bring in fuel and medical supplies and provide protection for health teams warning of the complete collapse of the health system in Gaza.
The health system in the Gaza Strip has suffered a near total collapse since the start of the Israeli aggression last October amid a suffocating siege preventing the entry of medical equipment fuel and medicines in addition to the continuous disruption of transferring critical cases for treatment outside the Strip.
According to data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health over 70 of health facilities are out of service due to direct targeting or resource depletion while the number of wounded needing urgent treatment outside Gaza is estimated in the tens of thousands most of whom are children women cancer patients and those with chronic diseases.
The enemy authorities impose strict restrictions on patient travel via the Rafah or Kerem Shalom crossings often delaying permit issuance or rejecting them without justification leading to the deterioration of their health condition or their martyrdom