Medical sources in Gaza announced on Monday the death of 17 patients at Al-Shifa Hospital after oxygen devices stopped working due to the depletion of fuel needed to run the facility’s electric generators.
A reporter for WAFA news agency who is currently at Al-Shifa Hospital said that another premature newborn two intensive care patients and 14 others from different departments died on Monday morning.
The new deaths brought the toll at the hospital within 48 hours to 32 people including six premature babies and nine intensive care patients.
Al-Shifa Hospital is still encircled by Israeli tanks and armed drones that target anyone moving indoors and outdoors. It is also impossible to evacuate the facility in the presence of more than 60 intensive care patients over 36 premature newborns and over 500 dialysis patients.
Earlier today the health ministry in Gaza said that seven sick and injured citizens died at Al-Shifa Hospital which is under Israeli siege for the third consecutive day.
Spokesman for the ministry Ashraf al-Qudra told Al Jazeera satellite channel on Monday morning that the death toll among civilians suffering from injuries and patients climbed to 20 martyrs.
Spokesman Qudra added that “36 premature babies are at risk of dying after the fuel supplies used for the facility’s generators have run out.”
Al-Shifa Hospital has been under Israeli siege and attack for three days with no ambulances leaving or coming to it or anyone moving between its sections according to the spokesman.
The spokesman affirmed that the hospital had to coordinate with the Red Cross before transferring the premature newborns to another section for their safety.
He also said that Israeli tanks arrived at one of the hospital’s gates that is located on the side leading to the intensive care department which had been bombed several times.
There are 650 stranded patients and wounded people inside Al-Shifa Hospital in addition to hundreds of medical and administrative staff and thousands of displaced people (between 6000 and 7000) including children women and elderlies. They have no water or food and cannot leave the facility.
