Gaza doctors cram babies into incubators as Israel intensifies campaign
Overwhelmed medics say the dwindling fuel supplies threaten to plunge them into darkness and paralyze hospitals and clinics in the Palestinian territory, where health services have been pummeled during 21 months of war.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the fate of Israeli hostages in Gaza with US President Donald Trump in Washington this week, patients at Al Shifa medical center in Gaza City faced imminent danger, doctors there said.
'We are forced to place four, five, or sometimes three premature babies in one incubator,' said Dr. Mohammed Abu Selmia, Al Shifa's director.
'Premature babies are now in a very critical condition.'
The threat comes from 'neither an airstrike nor a missile — but a siege choking the entry of fuel,' Dr. Muneer Alboursh, director general of the Gaza Ministry of Health, told Reuters.
The shortage is 'depriving these vulnerable people of their basic right to medical care, turning the hospital into a silent graveyard,' he said.
Gaza, a tiny strip of land with a population of more than 2 million, was under a long, Israeli-led blockade before Israel launched its war on October 7, 2023.
Palestinians and medical workers have accused the Israeli military of attacking hospitals, allegations it rejects.
Israel accuses Palestinian militant group Hamas of operating from medical facilities and running command centers underneath them, which Hamas, doctors, and several international organizations – including the United Nations – deny.
Patients in need of medical care, food and water are paying the price.
There have been more than 600 attacks on health facilities since the conflict began, the WHO says, without attributing blame. It has described the health sector in Gaza as being 'on its knees', with shortages of fuel, medical supplies and frequent arrivals of mass casualties.
Just half of Gaza's 36 general hospitals are partially functioning, according to the UN agency.
Abu Selmia warned of a humanitarian catastrophe and accused Israel of 'trickle-feeding' fuel to Gaza's hospitals.
COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about fuel shortages at Gaza's medical facilities and the risk to patients.
Oxygen risk
Abu Selmia said Al Shifa's dialysis department had been shut down to protect the intensive care unit and operating rooms, which can't be without electricity for even a few minutes.
There are around 100 premature babies in Gaza City hospitals whose lives are at serious risk, he said. Before the war, there were 110 incubators in northern Gaza compared to about 40 now, said Abu Selmia.
'Oxygen stations will stop working. A hospital without oxygen is no longer a hospital. The lab and blood banks will shut down, and the blood units in the refrigerators will spoil,' Abu Selmia said, adding that the hospital could become 'a graveyard for those inside'.
Officials at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis are also wondering how they will cope with the fuel crisis. The hospital needs 4,500 liters of fuel per day and it now has only 3,000 liters, said hospital spokesperson Mohammed Sakr.
Doctors are performing surgeries without electricity or air conditioning. The sweat from staff is dripping into patients' wounds, he said.
Earlier this year, Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza for nearly three months, before partly lifting it. Israel accuses Hamas of diverting aid, something Hamas denies.
'You can have the best hospital staff on the planet, but if they are denied the medicines and the pain killers and now the very means for a hospital to have light ... it becomes an impossibility,' said James Elder, a spokesperson for UN children's agency UNICEF, recently returned from Gaza.
Gaza's health ministry says Israel's war on the territory has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced almost all Gaza's population and prompted accusations of genocide and war crimes, which Israel denies.
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Arab News
25 minutes ago
- Arab News
How the UK's ‘apartheid apologists' use ‘disingenuous' antisemitism claims to suppress Israel's critics
LONDON: In the initial weeks of the war in Gaza, Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a British-Palestinian plastic and reconstructive surgeon, worked day and night at Al-Shifa Hospital as part of a team from the medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres. During that time, Abu-Sitta regularly posted updates on X about the injuries he was treating. On returning to London, he held a press conference at which journalists were shown some of the footage he had deemed too distressing to post online. He also shared photographs of some of the children he had treated who had been left with life-changing injuries. Underscoring the scale of suffering, Abu-Sitta said he had performed six amputations on child patients in one night alone. Israel mounted its military campaign in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which saw 1,200 killed — the majority of them civilians — and 250 taken hostage. Twenty-two months later, Israeli operations have destroyed much of Gaza's infrastructure, created famine conditions, and left about 60,000 Palestinians dead, according to Gazan health authorities. After returning to the UK, Abu-Sitta gave evidence to London's Metropolitan Police Service, which had appealed for anyone who had been to Israel or Palestine to come forward if they had 'witnessed or been a victim of terrorism, war crimes, or crimes against humanity.' That was the cue for an organization called UK Lawyers for Israel, or UKLFI, to act. It reported Abu-Sitta to the UK health care regulator, the General Medical Council, seeking to have him suspended. At the same time, according to a new report from CAGE International exposing the activities of two influential pro-Israel lobby groups in the UK, Abu-Sitta 'became the target of an online campaign to malign his work, resulting in his entry to France, Germany, and the Netherlands being barred when invited to deliver lectures.' The GMC tribunal threw out the complaint, finding there was 'no evidence that there was any potential risk to patients … arising from the concerns about Dr. Abu-Sitta's social media posts.' It also rejected the submission that he would discriminate against Jewish or Israeli patients 'because the only evidence before the Tribunal on this point suggested the contrary — that Dr. Abu-Sitta did not discriminate against any particular group of patients.' The tribunal acknowledged 'the long history of humanitarian overseas work by Dr. Abu-Sitta,' adding 'it was not in the public interest to be deprived of a competent doctor.' But the campaign against Abu-Sitta is just one of dozens of examples of what CAGE International called a flood of 'disingenuous and dishonest complaints of antisemitism, seeking to suppress and criminalize support for Palestine in the UK,' perpetuated by UKLFI and the Campaign Against Antisemitism, or CAA. In a new report, 'Britain's Apartheid Apologists,' CAGE focuses on the organizations as just two among 'the constellation of efforts to provide cover to Zionism' which, it says, 'regularly support the apartheid state of Israel.' UKLFI is a limited company with a separate charitable wing. The CAA, a registered charity, 'ostensibly seeks to highlight acts of antisemitism in the UK, but much of its activities are geared toward reporting on those who criticize or oppose Israel.' CAGE has reported both organizations to the UK's Charity Commission for allegedly breaching the commission's code of conduct, 'which prohibits support for policies that violate fundamental human rights, and have misused their platforms to shield Israel from accountability.' Both groups, it says, 'regularly instrumentalize regulatory authorities to attack and harass those who criticize and protest against Zionist apartheid and its settler colonial and genocidal activity. 'Through the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism, they seek to inhibit and disrupt genuine criticism of Israeli crimes under international law.' A spokesperson for the Charity Commission confirmed it had 'ongoing compliance cases into Campaign Against Antisemitism and UK Lawyers for Israel Charitable Trust. We will assess any issues raised to determine what, if any, role there is for us as regulator.' The CAGE report accuses UKLFI of 'bad-faith lawfare, opacity of finances and governance, and institutional racism.' The organization, it says, 'has become adept at weaponizing professional regulation, bombarding regulators like the General Medical Council, Solicitors' Regulation Authority, Bar Standards Board, and Charity Commission with vexatious complaints designed to harass and silence Palestinian rights advocates.' CAGE also questions the source of UKLFI's funding. 'Despite clear evidence of coordination with the Israeli state and its objectives, UKLFI continues to conceal its funding sources, refusing to disclose the financial backers driving its campaign of professional harassment.' The report labels the CAA as 'UKLFI's less respectable twin, exploiting legitimate concerns about antisemitism to silence criticism of Israel and Zionism through strategic deployment of the dysfunctional, and arguably now totally broken, IHRA working definition.' The definition of antisemitism framed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, widely adopted by global organizations, has been criticized as a shield to protect Israel. The report says the CAA's 'relentless pressure on universities, local councils, and public bodies has created a climate of fear in British public life and particularly in academia, where scholars now routinely self-censor Palestine-related research to avoid being smeared as antisemites.' 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The meaning of the exchange became clear when an edited version of the video revealed the officer was simply trying to prevent Falter provoking marchers, for his own safety. 'The stunt,' says CAGE, was 'an attempt to bring down (Metropolitan Police chief Mark) Rowley, following his failure to rein in and/or ban the national Palestine demonstrations, as Falter and the CAA had been calling for since at least November 2023.' CAGE says the evidence in its report 'underscores the profound and systemic role played by UK Lawyers for Israel and the Campaign Against Antisemitism in perpetuating a climate of censorship and institutional complicity with Israel's apartheid regime.' London-based CAGE International was founded during Ramadan 2003 as CagePrisoners, highlighting 'the status and whereabouts of prisoners seized under the war on terror.' It describes itself as 'an independent advocacy organization that aspires to a just world.' Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, said 'there is a coordinated, long-term campaign to prevent proper and free discussion of the situation facing Palestinians so that it becomes harder to discuss and stand up for Palestinian rights, to talk about the crimes committed against them, the violations of international law, and even the genocide. 'Even carrying a Palestinian flag or expressing solidarity with Palestinians becomes subject to attack.' Groups such as UKLFI, he said, were 'trying to shut down the debate' and there were 'widespread false accusations of antisemitism, whether it's calling the UN antisemitic, the pope antisemitic, or the BBC antisemitic — that is all part of this campaign of intimidation.' It was, he added, 'thoroughly scurrilous, but it also undermines the very legitimate campaign against actual antisemitism.' Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI, told Arab News the organization received messages from 'hundreds of worried and frightened informants in many fields including education, local government, medical, legal, the arts, travel, sport and retail, who are intimidated and distressed by various antisemitic or anti-Israel actions.' UKLFI, she added, 'do not make frivolous or malicious complaints to suppress pro-Palestine voices. We believe in freedom of speech if it is lawful and avoids antisemitism and harassment. 'Unfortunately, there have been many examples of professionals who have potentially committed criminal offenses by expressing views supportive of proscribed terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, or expressed antisemitic views on social media.' The CAA did not respond to a request for comment.
Al Arabiya
7 hours ago
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More Gazans die seeking aid and from hunger, as burial shrouds in short supply
At least 40 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Gaza on Monday, including 10 seeking aid, health authorities said, adding another five had died of starvation in what humanitarian agencies warn may be an unfolding famine. The 10 died in two separate incidents near aid sites belonging to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in central and southern Gaza, local medics said. The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in the enclave since the GHF began operating in May 2025, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites. 'Everyone who goes there, comes back either with a bag of flour or carried back (on a wooden stretcher) as a martyr, or injured. No one comes back safe,' said 40-year-old Palestinian Bilal Thari. He was among mourners at Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital on Monday who had gathered to collect the bodies of their loved ones killed a day earlier by Israeli fire as they sought aid, according to Gaza's health officials. At least 13 Palestinians were killed on Sunday while waiting for the arrival of UN aid trucks at the Zikim crossing on the Israeli border with the northern Gaza Strip, the officials added. At the hospital, some bodies were wrapped in thick patterned blankets because white shrouds, which hold special significance in Islamic burials, were in short supply due to continued Israeli border restrictions and the mounting number of daily deaths, Palestinians said. 'We don't want war, we want peace, we want this misery to end. We are out on the streets, we all are hungry, we are all in bad shape, women are out there on the streets, we have nothing available for us to live a normal life like all human beings, there's no life,' Thari told Reuters. There was no immediate comment by Israel on the incidents of shootings on Sunday and Monday. Israel blames Hamas for the suffering in Gaza and says it is taking steps for more aid to reach its population, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas, air drops, and announcing protected routes for aid convoys. Deaths from hunger Meanwhile, five more people died of starvation or malnutrition over the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said on Monday. The new deaths raised the toll of those dying from hunger to 180, including 93 children, since the war began. UN agencies have said that airdrops of food are insufficient and that Israel must let in far more aid by land and quickly ease access to it. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said that during the past week, over 23,000 tons of humanitarian aid in 1,200 trucks had entered Gaza but that hundreds of the trucks had yet to be driven to aid distribution hubs by U.N. and other international organizations. The Gaza government media office said on Sunday that more than 600 aid trucks had arrived since Israel eased restrictions late in July. However, witnesses and Hamas sources said many of those trucks have been looted by desperate displaced people and armed gangs. Palestinian and UN officials said Gaza needs around 600 aid trucks to enter per day to meet the humanitarian requirements -the number Israel used to allow into Gaza before the war. The Gaza war began when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures. Israel's offensive has since killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Arab News
8 hours ago
- Arab News
More Gazans die seeking aid and from hunger, as burial shrouds in short supply
CAIRO/GAZA: At least 40 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Gaza on Monday, including 10 seeking aid, health authorities said, adding another five had died of starvation in what humanitarian agencies warn may be an unfolding famine. The 10 died in two separate incidents near aid sites belonging to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in central and southern Gaza, local medics said. The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in the enclave since the GHF began operating in May 2025, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites. 'Everyone who goes there, comes back either with a bag of flour or carried back (on a wooden stretcher) as a martyr, or injured. No one comes back safe,' said 40-year-old Palestinian Bilal Thari. He was among mourners at Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital on Monday who had gathered to collect the bodies of their loved ones killed a day earlier by Israeli fire as they sought aid, according to Gaza's health officials. At least 13 Palestinians were killed on Sunday while waiting for the arrival of UN aid trucks at the Zikim crossing on the Israeli border with the northern Gaza Strip, the officials added. At the hospital, some bodies were wrapped in thick patterned blankets because white shrouds, which hold special significance in Islamic burials, were in short supply due to continued Israeli border restrictions and the mounting number of daily deaths, Palestinians said. 'We don't want war, we want peace, we want this misery to end. We are out on the streets, we all are hungry, we are all in bad shape, women are out there on the streets, we have nothing available for us to live a normal life like all human beings, there's no life,' Thari told Reuters. There was no immediate comment by Israel on the incidents of shootings on Sunday and Monday. Israel blames Hamas for the suffering in Gaza and says it is taking steps for more aid to reach its population, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas, air drops, and announcing protected routes for aid convoys. Deaths from hunger Meanwhile, five more people died of starvation or malnutrition over the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said on Monday. The new deaths raised the toll of those dying from hunger to 180, including 93 children, since the war began. UN agencies have said that airdrops of food are insufficient and that Israel must let in far more aid by land and quickly ease access to it. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said that during the past week, over 23,000 tons of humanitarian aid in 1,200 trucks had entered Gaza but that hundreds of the trucks had yet to be driven to aid distribution hubs by UN and other international organizations. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Sunday that more than 600 aid trucks had arrived since Israel eased restrictions late in July. However, witnesses and Hamas sources said many of those trucks have been looted by desperate displaced people and armed gangs. Palestinian and UN officials said Gaza needs around 600 aid trucks to enter per day to meet the humanitarian requirements -the number Israel used to allow into Gaza before the war. The Gaza war began when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures. Israel's offensive has since killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
