The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip on Sunday warned of an unprecedented humanitarian and health disaster in the enclave after seven hospitals were forced to suspend services because of the power shortage.
Head of al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital which is one of only two facilities in Gaza equipped to treat cancer patients Mohammed Salmiya said in a press conference “For the first time since Israel imposed the blockade on the Gaza Strip we are unable to make further efforts to run power generators for additional hours.”
Abu Salmiya said that based on daily field reports by technical and administrative staff what is available at Gaza hospitals is less than 17% of the fuel needed during power outages.
Abu Salmiya noted that the austerity measures taken by the Ministry of Health will soon become useless as the crisis is worsening.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health appealed to those concerned to make serious actions toward ending the crisis and fulfilling Gaza patients’ right to receive proper treatment.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has been suffering from growing crises in different fields as a result of the Israeli 13-year-long blockade on the enclave and the sanctions imposed by the Palestinian Authority government for about two years.
Gaza hospitals need 45000 liters of fuel per month to operate generators during power outages which last for 8-12 hours a day.
