Three Gaza hospitals face imminent closure as latest Israeli raids kill 50

The Gazan government’s lack of fuel supplies “raises the risk of the lives of patients and newborns,” according to the UN.

More than 50 more Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in the last 24 hours, prompting the UN’s condemnation of the “deliberate and systematic” attacks on Gaza hospitals.

According to Gaza health officials, Al-Aqsa, Nasser, and the European hospitals are facing the same fate as Kamal Adwan, Indonesian, and Al-Awda hospitals, which have been the targets of repeated Israeli bombardment and supply blockade.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, said the facility was now “overstretched” given an influx of more injured civilians, many of them women and children, who had now faced a genocide for 15 months.

“Doctors are reporting about the acute shortage of basic supplies, including surgical tools, antibiotics and painkillers”, he said.

Dr Bushra Othman, general surgeon and a volunteer at the hospital, said the situation is being assessed every 24 hours, as officials attempt to replenish supplies.

“At any time during the day, power and electricity will cut out, and certain areas should be protected such as the operating theatres, the intensive care unit, including the neonatal unit”, she told Al Jazeera.

Doctors Without Borders warned at Nasser Hospital that fuel shortages would put the lives of 15 newborns in incubators at risk.

“Without fuel, these newborns are at risk of losing their lives”, said Pascale Coissard, MSF’s emergency coordinator.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, also reporting from Deir el-Balah, said the atmosphere in the Palestinian territory “is quite charged with tension and fear”.

“Over the past 24 hours, what we have witnessed has been very bloody. The death toll from the past day has really been staggering”, he said.

On Thursday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) renewed its call for a ceasefire. A ceasefire must be established in Gaza, and more humanitarian aid is required, according to the group’s statement on X.

Despite the UN’s appeal, Israel continued its bombardment across the Gaza Strip.

At least six Palestinians were killed in attacks starting at dawn in northern Gaza, according to medical sources, and at least eight were killed in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

Four Palestinians were killed at the Nuseirat refugee camp, including three children, according to a report from the Wafa news agency, while several others were still unaccounted for beneath the rubble.

According to Wafa, 78 people were hurt in Israeli strikes and at least 51 civilians were killed.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed 46, 006 Palestinians and wounded at least 109, 378 others, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis on Thursday stepped up his criticisms of Israel’s military campaign as “very serious and shameful”.

The pope appeared to make reference to deaths in Gaza, where there is hardly any electricity, in his annual address to diplomats that was delivered on his behalf on Thursday.

Source: Aljazeera