Health services in Gaza are now at critical stage: Ministry
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The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip warns that the occupation cutting off electricity will lead to serious ramifications.
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A mother comforts her child who was wounded by an Israeli airstrike, on May 13, 2021, in Gaza, Palestine. (AP)
Gaza’s Health Ministry announced on Thursday that the Israeli occupation shutting off electricity, water, and fuel poses a “danger to the lives of the sick and wounded.”
The Ministry noted that hospitals in the Gaza Strip are at full capacity and that patients “are lying on the floor” due to the severity of the occupation's aggression, further warning that health services in Gaza are now at a critical stage.
The Palestinian Health Ministry had earlier announced that the number of martyrs in the Strip has reached 1100, with 5339 others wounded since the beginning of the Israeli aggression last Saturday.
Gaza’s Health Ministry also warned that the occupation’s continued blockade on electricity, water, and fuel will lead to serious ramifications, affecting patients who are seriously wounded and those in intensive care.
Read more: Gallant orders electricity, water cut off from Gaza's 'human animals'
Patients may lose their lives
The cutting of electricity would also lead to the discontinuation of life-saving procedures, such as heart catheters, C-sections, and surgical interventions, not to mention 58 laboratories and blood banks being forced to shut down amid the critical need for them.
1100 renal failure patients could also lose their lives as a result, including 38 children.
Gaza’s Health Ministry has already put in place measures to save fuel, including shutting off power from local generators for a few hours and directing electricity toward the more essential wards.
Gaza death toll hits 1,100
The Israeli occupation continues its aggression against Gaza for the fifth day in a row, confirming that it launched more than 200 raids on al-Furqan neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip.
The number of Palestinian martyrs rose to more than 1,100, including at least 260 children and 230 women. Some 4,650 others were injured as a result of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported on Tuesday.
Gaza power plant shuts down
The single power plant in Gaza shut down on Wednesday due to a lack of fuel, according to Jalal Ismail, the director of Gaza's energy administration.
"The only power plant in the Gaza Strip stopped at 14:00 [11:00 am GMT] due to lack of fuel," Ismail remarked.
Earlier in the day, Palestinian Health Minister Mai Salem al-Kailah stated that the plant's stocks had just 10-12 hours' worth of gasoline, threatening "a humanitarian catastrophe for two million people."
The fuel supply for electric generators at Palestinian medical institutions will last until Thursday, according to the Minister, after the Israeli occupation enforced an electrical blockade in response to the Palestinian Resistance's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
Israeli strikes damage 7 water facilities: OCH
Seven Gaza Stripe facilities that provided water to 1.1 million people were damaged by Israeli strikes, according to a statement released on Wednesday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
"Israeli airstrikes have also damaged seven facilities that had been providing water and sanitation services to over 1,100,000 people. In some areas, sewage and solid waste are now accumulating in the streets, posing a health hazard," the OCHA said in a report.
