The Turkish Friendship Hospital in the Gaza Strip has gone out of service as a result of the repeated Israeli air strikes on it Palestinian Minister of Health Mai Al-Kaila announced on Wednesday.
Al-Kaila highlighted that the Turkish Friendship Hospital is the only hospital for cancer treatment in Gaza stressing that this brings the total number of non-operating hospitals in the blockaded Gaza Strip to 16 out of 35.
“The lives of 70 cancer patients inside the hospital are seriously threatened” she said in a statement.
“The number of cancer patients in the Gaza Strip is about 2000 living in catastrophic health conditions as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Strip” al-Kaila added.
Al-Kaila pointed out that Al-Shifa Medical Complex will stop working in less than 24 hours due to lack of fuel as the hospital is currently operating in emergency surgery kidney intensive care and incubator departments only and that it is operating at a capacity exceeding many times its absorptive capacity and with a staff that does not cover 30% of the necessary need.
About 50000 citizens have resorted to the hospital after their houses had been bombed or evacuated under Israeli threats over the past days.
Minister al-Kaila noted that only 81 Palestinians out of thousands of wounded have been granted permission to cross the Rafah border crossing to receive treatment in Egypt.
She reiterated urgent calls for a halt to the ongoing Israeli aggression and to allow the entry of medical aids and volunteer teams as well as the exit of the wounded.
The director of the Turkish Friendship Hospital in Gaza Sobhi Sakik announced earlier on Wednesday that the hospital was out of service after running out of fuel calling for taking action to save the lives of 10000 cancer patients.
“We tell the world do not leave more than 10000 cancer patients to certain death because the hospital is out of service” he said.
For his part the director of the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza Mohammad Abu Salmiya warned of an imminent catastrophe within the hospital and across the besieged enclave.
Dr. Abu Salmiya warned that within hours the hospital’s generators would stop due to running out of fuel.
For his part the director of hospitals in Gaza Muhammad Zaqout said: “We provided Egypt with a list of hundreds of wounded who are in urgent need to receive treatment abroad.”
He also warned that Al- Shifa Medical Complex would stop working within hours due to severe fuel shortage.
