WHO To Stop Diesel Supplies To Over 20 Hospitals In Gaza

GAZA CITY/ISTANBUL, Sept 14 (NNN-Anadolu) -- Gaza Health Ministry Director-General Munir al-Bursh said Monday that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has decided to stop supplying diesel to more than 20 hospitals and health centres in the besieged coastal enclave due to a funding shortfall, Anadolu Ajansi reported.

“In light of the severe shortage of fuel and oils, and the failure to deliver the minimum needed to operate hospitals and health centres in the Gaza Strip, the WHO announced the suspension of diesel supplies to more than 20 hospitals and health centres, starting Sept 19, due to a lack of funding,” Bursh said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from the WHO on the decision cited by Gaza’s Health Ministry, although the organisation has warned in recent months of declining funding for its activities and programs.

“The limited quantities of fuel reaching the enclave barely keep health facilities alive,” Bursh said.

“The halt in supplies does not only mean generators going dark, but the shutdown of operating rooms and intensive care units, the disruption of ventilators and oxygen stations, and threats to the lives of children in incubators, dialysis patients, the wounded and those with chronic diseases,” he added.

He said that the crisis would also paralyse ambulances and cold chains for medicines and vaccines.

“The fuel crisis is pushing hospitals towards complete shutdown and leaving patients facing preventable death,” Bursh said, describing the cutting of fuel from hospitals as “silent killing of patients in their beds.”

He called on the WHO, donors and the international community to assume their urgent responsibilities, ensure continued supplies of fuel and oils in sufficient quantities, and guarantee their safe and sustainable delivery to all health facilities.

The announcement coincides with a shortage of oil and spare parts for power generators operating in Gaza’s hospitals, which caused several of them to stop working, according to a Health Ministry statement Sunday.

“The past few days have seen several generators stop working due to the lack of oils, spare parts and sufficient fuel quantities,” the ministry said.

It added that the shortage of generator oil in Gaza hospitals is worsening the difficulty of keeping them running to meet daily electricity needs.

Power generators are the main source of electricity for hospitals to operate vital departments and medical equipment amid a complete power outage across Gaza for the third consecutive year since the start of Israel’s genocidal war in October 2023.

The generators also stop working because of fuel shortages, amid Israel’s closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel since October 2023 and the Israeli army’s occupation and control of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt since May 2024.

Since then, the two crossings have been opened only on a limited basis for the passage of dozens of patients, wounded people and returnees to Gaza, as well as the entry of limited humanitarian, relief and medical aid.

Since Oct 8, 2023, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 174,000 injured, while around 90 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been destroyed.

--NNN-ANADOLU