Gaza Facing Real Catastrophe as Hospitals Only Have Hours of Fuel Left

By Staff, The Independent

Hospitals in Gaza have just hours left of generator fuel, while water and other critical supplies have either run out or will do so in around 24 hours, according to the United Nations – with Egypt warning that aid for the besieged Strip is stuck at the border as a result of the “Israeli” entity “not cooperating”.

The UN and rights groups have pleaded for supply lifelines to be fully opened with Egypt, warning that the entity’s “total siege” of the enclave means that food, water and medical supplies are running perilously low. Since Gaza’s only power plant shut down five days ago, many fear that intensive care units will be plunged into darkness, with doctors having to switch off incubators and ventilators as their supply of diesel to power back-up generators runs out.

The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency told The Independent that some civilians have resorted to drinking seawater and dirty water as the supply of clean water has run out completely. The World Health Organization [WHO] said Gaza was less than 24 hours from “real catastrophe”.

Despite the mounting humanitarian catastrophe and an impending “Israeli” ground invasion, Egypt said vital aid was stuck at its border.

In total, at least 2,808 Palestinians have been martyred and 10,850 injured since the apartheid “Israeli” entity unleashed its heaviest ever bombardment of Gaza just under a week ago.

Included in that figure are more than 1,000 children, according to Defense for Children Palestine, an international monitoring group, who said that this means one child is killed approximately “every 15 minutes”.

Meanwhile, doctors said that morgues were overflowing and bodies were being stacked against walls. They shared videos showing the authorities using bulldozers to hastily dig “emergency” mass graves in which to bury dozens of corpses. At the al-Aqsa Hospital in the center of occupied Palestine, medics described storing the excess bodies in refrigerated food trucks.

The apartheid “Israeli” regime has ordered Palestinians to “evacuate” south ahead of an imminent ground offensive, an action that the UN and rights groups have warned could amount to the war crime of forcible transfer.

More than a million people are now displaced, with towns in the south now at more than double their capacity, while thousands have tried to head all the way to the border with Egypt.

In total, 22 hospitals in Gaza have been instructed by “Israeli” Occupation Forces to evacuate, according to the WHO, which may amount to a violation of international law.