Gaza City [Gaza], July 10: Overwhelmed doctors and patients at Gaza's largest medical centre could soon be plunged into darkness because of dwindling fuel supplies, which doctors say threaten to paralyze Al Shifa hospital as Israel presses on with its military campaign.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the fate of Israeli hostages in Gaza with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, Al Shifa's patients faced imminent danger, doctors there said.
The threat comes from "neither an airstrike nor a missile - but a siege choking the entry of fuel," Dr. Muneer Alboursh, director general of the Gaza Ministry of Health, told Reuters.
The shortage is "depriving these vulnerable people of their basic right to medical care, turning the hospital into a silent graveyard," he said.
Israeli airstrikes and relentless bombardment have taken a heavy toll on hospitals in Gaza, a tiny strip of land which was under a long, Israeli-led blockade before the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas erupted 21 months ago.
Palestinians and medical workers have accused the Israeli military of attacking hospitals, allegations it rejects.
Israel accuses Hamas of operating from medical facilities and running command centres underneath them, something Hamas denies.
Patients in need of medical care, food and water are paying the price.
There have been more than 600 attacks on health facilities since the conflict began, the WHO says, without attributing blame. It has described the health sector in Gaza as being "on its knees", with shortages of fuel, medical supplies and frequent arrivals of mass casualties.
Just half of Gaza's 36 general hospitals are partially functioning, according to the U.N. agency.
Dr. Muhammad Abu Salamiyah, Al Shifa's director, warned of a humanitarian catastrophe due to a fuel crisis posing a direct threat to hospital operations, desalination plants and the water supply system.
He accused Israel of "trickle-feeding" fuel to Gaza's hospitals.
COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about fuel shortages at Gaza's medical facilities and the risk to patients.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
