Palestinian health ministry: We need electrical generators to save lives

The Palestinian health ministry has made a distress call to Islamic countries as well as the international community to provide the people in Gaza with electrical generators to save the lives of patients.

The ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the Israeli regime has badly damaged the health system in Gaza and left most of the electrical generators providing power to hospitals dysfunctional.

“For approximately 9 months, the Palestinian Ministry of Health - Gaza has been relying on diesel-powered generators to supply hospitals with the necessary electrical power,” the statement said.

“These generators operate around the clock without interruption, and many have suffered major technical failures that are difficult to repair. Some of these generators have been destroyed and directly targeted by the oppressive occupation,” it added.

The ministry said they fear that “several main generators will go out of service in the coming period due to the prevention of the entry of necessary spare parts for preventive and regular maintenance to ensure the continued operation of the generators.”

“This means certain death for patients and the complete cessation of health services,” it added.

The ministry said the Israeli occupation army “has attempted to disable the health system by destroying all the electrical generators at Al-Shifa Medical Complex, Nasser Complex, the Indonesian Hospital, and recently by destroying the generators at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.”

“Recently, one of the main generators at Al-Aqsa Hospital broke down, and the hospital is now operating with a single generator nonstop, indicating the impending catastrophe and the potential complete shutdown of the hospital,” it noted.

The ministry lamented that since the beginning of the war, it has been working with several relevant international originations to procure and purchase generators, but to no avail.

Israel’s savage military campaign has knocked out much of Gaza’s health sector and reduced its clinical capacity by 70 percent, according to the Health ministry.

As a result, Gaza is relying more on field hospitals, which often lack basic services, to treat patients unable to find spots in hospitals, the ministry said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has documented hundreds of attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza since October.

ICRC’s Gaza chief says aid workers face ‘extreme difficulties’

William Schomburg said the Palestinians in Gaza were struggling to find food, water and healthcare to survive.

The Gaza media office has warned that lack of aid, including food, nutritional supplements and vaccines, has put thousands of children at risk of dying from malnourishment.

“We call on the international community and all countries of the free world to condemn this crime, which… violates international law,” it said.

More than 17,000 children have been killed during the Israeli aggression since October, according to the latest estimate by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. About 98% of children in Gaza do not have access to safe drinking water.

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