At least 15 bodies pulled from rubble after Israeli strike on Jabalia home
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Middle East Eye
2 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Gaza's largest hospital forced to end dialysis services amid fuel crisis
At least 350 kidney failure patients in Gaza face imminent death as the Strip's largest medical complex announces a halt to dialysis sessions due to fuel shortages. On Tuesday morning, the head of al-Shifa Complex in Gaza City announced that the dialysis ward would completely shut down by noon, as fuel needed to operate the generators had run out. 'This is happening for the first time since the beginning of the war on Gaza,' Dr Muhammad Abu Hassira, a specialist in internal medicine and nephrology at al-Shifa Medical Complex, told Middle East Eye. 'During the worst periods of the war, the dialysis unit was forced to suspend operations multiple times for several days due to Israeli raids on the hospital. Today, the hospital is still partially functioning, but we simply cannot run the dialysis machines because there is no fuel.' Dr Abu Hassira confirmed that the dialysis ward had completely shut down earlier in the day, with the small amount of remaining fuel running a single generator reserved exclusively for the intensive care unit. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters 'Kidney failure patients came today, and we painfully had to ask them to go back home. This has very serious repercussions on their health,' he added. On 19 June, United Nations agencies warned that vital services are 'hours away' from shutting down. 'We are really - unless the situation changes - hours away from a catastrophic decline and a shutdown of more facilities if no fuel enters or more fuel isn't retrieved immediately,' Olga Cherevko from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said in a statement. According to OCHA, between 15 May and 9 June, Israeli authorities denied access to northern Gaza 14 times, preventing fuel retrieval and resulting in the looting of approximately 260,000 litres essential for running hospitals and other lifesaving services. Collapse of health services 'I cannot imagine what will happen to my grandmother if she doesn't receive her regular dialysis sessions this week. They had already been reduced from three to just two per week,' Ahmed al-Sayed, 31, told MEE. 'If she misses even one session, she feels suffocated and struggles to breathe. But if it goes beyond that, her body starts to swell, and it won't be long before she dies.' 'The shutdown of the dialysis unit at al-Shifa Hospital today means the imminent death of hundreds of patients' - Muhammad Abu Hassira, doctor Before the recent shutdown of the dialysis ward, patients had been facing several challenges that frequently disrupted or cancelled their sessions. By July 2024, Gaza City had lost nearly all of its water production capacity, with approximately 88 percent of its water wells and 100 percent of its desalination plants damaged or destroyed, according to Oxfam International. This destruction of water infrastructure has left medical staff struggling to secure the clean water required to operate dialysis machines. Even after the ceasefire and partial rebuilding of al-Shifa's dialysis ward, the water shortage remains critical, continuing to threaten the lives of patients who cannot survive without regular, uninterrupted care. On numerous occasions, dialysis sessions have been cancelled due to the lack of water. 'We already struggle with transportation, often walking most of the way while pushing her in a wheelchair to reach the hospital,' Sayed added. 'Because of the fuel crisis, taxis are rarely available. Sometimes we miss her dialysis session altogether while searching for one, or because we arrive too late.' Since October 2023, more than 400 kidney patients in the Gaza Strip have died due to war-related conditions and ongoing restrictions, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health. The breakdown of the healthcare system has been driven by Israeli military assaults on hospitals, ongoing blockades on essential medicines, and the cutting off of electricity, food, and water. But the deadliest blow for kidney patients came when Israeli forces stormed al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest medical complex. Since then, the hospital's dialysis ward has been struggling to maintain its operations. Imminent death According to doctors at al-Shifa Hospital, the death of around 41 percent of kidney patients since the beginning of Israel's war on the Strip did not alleviate the pressure on the dialysis units, as the number of residents suffering from kidney failure has increased during the war, due to the lack of access to healthy food and clean drinking water. Israel destroys north Gaza's sole kidney dialysis facility Read More » Gaza's Ministry of Health's records show that there are 728 kidney failure patients across the coastal envlave, distributed among four dialysis centres in northern, central, and southern Gaza. About half of these patients receive treatment at al-Shifa Hospital. Typically, patients require 12 hours of dialysis per week. However, even under the best conditions before the dialysis unit shut down, the hospital could only provide four to six hours of dialysis per patient. Currently, approximately 30 dialysis machines are available at al-Shifa Hospital, serving over 350 kidney failure patients in Gaza City and northern Gaza, especially after Israeli forces bombed the Noura al-Kaabi dialysis centre in the northern Gaza Strip in June, which had provided vital kidney dialysis services. 'The shutdown of the dialysis unit at al-Shifa Hospital today means the imminent death of hundreds of patients,' Dr Abu Hassira said. 'Some patients' condition will already begin to deteriorate today because they missed their dialysis session, while most of them only have two or three days before their condition worsens, and then they will start dying.'
Middle East Eye
2 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Death toll in Gaza rises to 56,647
The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since October 2023 has risen to 56,647, the Palestinian health ministry has announced. At least 134,105 have been wounded during that time. Over the past 24 hours, Israeli forces killed 112 Palestinians in the enclave, and wounded 463 more. Since Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire in March, its forces have killed 6,315 in Gaza and wounded a further 22,064.
Middle East Eye
2 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Palestinian man dies of malnutrition due to Israeli siege on Gaza
A 29-year-old Palestinian man has died as a result of severe malnutrition in Gaza, with the Israeli authorities continued blockade compounding the humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged enclave Ayoub Abu al-Hussain died on Monday at the Kuwait Specialised Field Hospital in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip. Photos and videos published show the 29-year-old man in a skeletal state, with notable weight loss caused by the restrictions on food aid and essentials. According to a post by the hospital, Ayoub had arrived "lifeless" due to the malnutrition in a "scene that embodies the magnitude of the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip due to the closure of crossings and the ongoing aggression". "The severe shortage of food and medicine threatens the lives of thousands of citizens, especially children, the elderly, and those with chronic diseases, amid the lack of the most basic necessities of life," the post added. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters In a statement to Anadolu Agency, Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Government Media Office in Gaza, indicated that the death of the young man "represents a tragic and shocking development in the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip due to the criminal Israeli occupation." "The fact that a young man in the prime of his life has become so emaciated that he has become a skeleton is living proof of the horrific Israeli crime against Palestinians through its deliberate and systematic policy of starvation, which is no longer limited to children alone." In the ongoing war on Gaza, which genocide scholars and international human rights organisations have unanimously called a "genocide" against the Palestinian people, Israel also has been accused of implementing a policy of starvation in Gaza. In its assessment in mid-May, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global initiative aimed at enhancing food security and nutrition analysis to inform decisions, wrote that over the next six months, the entirety of Gaza is expected to face what is referred to by experts as "crisis, or worse acute food insecurity". Israel is starving Gaza to death, and still the world does nothing Read More » Furthering the shortage of food has been the recently operating US-Israeli aid intiative, that has come under scrutiny for its use of militarised methods to distribute aid and the lack of essentials entering the Gaza Strip. In a joint statment on Tuesday, more than 130 NGOs have called for immediate action to end the 'deadly' US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid scheme, and revert back to United Nations-led aid coordination mechanisms. The GHF began operating in late May, following a three-month total blockade on the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces. Since then, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and around 4,000 wounded by Israeli troops while attempting to access food and aid supplies. 'Today Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,' the NGOs said in the statement. The signatories include Oxfam, Save the Children, Amnesty, Doctors Without Borders and Action Aid. Thawabta noted that Israel's starvation policy is "comprehensive and targets civilians regardless of their age, while the Israeli occupation army implements it with full awareness and determination, in violation of all humanitarian norms and international laws," calling for urgent action to allow the immediate entry of food and medical supplies 'Dangerous development' The death of Ayoub, a young adult, has been especially notable and represents a looming threat over the blockaded Strip according to Thawabta. Most of the victims who have died due to starvation and malnutrition have thus far been children, with the latest victim indicating the "Gaza Strip is facing a dangerous development that could open the door to an increase in this number among adults as well, unless urgent intervention is made" to open the crossings and allow humanitarian essentials into the Strip. This "shocking situation represents yet another aspect of the genocide to which Palestinians are subjected under siege, and complete deprivation of food and medicine," Thawabta said, considering it "a stain of shame on the brow of the silent and inactive international community. "While most of the injuries and deaths (from malnutrition) at the beginning of the aggression were among children due to their fragile bodies, the talk now about adults dying from hunger and deprivation proves that the circle of danger has expanded to include everyone without exception."
