Scarcity of fuel, medical materials threatens lives of Gazans

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, has warned about the critical shortage of fuel and medical supplies, emphasizing it poses a threat to the lives of many injured amid the ongoing Israeli war since last October.

Hospital spokesman Khalil Al-Dakran told Anadolu about the danger of surgical operating rooms stopping work due to the severe shortage of medical supplies, medicines and fuel.

"We are unable to perform operations due to insufficient operating rooms, a lack of anesthesia, and the necessary medical tools and supplies," Al-Dakran said.

The cessation of operating rooms amounts to a "death sentence" for hundreds of patients in the hospital, he added.

Al-Dakran warned that if the operating rooms cease functioning, many patients will die.

The spokesman expressed fears that the hospital's generators might stop working due to fuel shortages amid ongoing power outages.

The failure of the hospital's generator poses a "major and real danger" to intensive care units, he said.

He urged the international community and humanitarian organizations to urgently supply fuel and medical supplies and to reactivate non-operational hospitals to relieve pressure on health care workers and save lives.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

More than 38,900 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 89,600 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.