A newborn baby writhes restlessly in an incubator at Al Aqsa Hospital in Gaza City. A respirator helps him breathe, and a tube gives the little body intravenous nutrition. Next to the incubator, monitors monitor the baby. This is reported by the AP news agency from inside the Gaza Strip. The doctors on the ward work day and night to keep the premature babies alive. – We have an enormous responsibility, says the head of the Al Aqsa hospital, Iyad Abu Zahar. The power may disappear soon The health workers in Gaza know that the stocks of fuel are about to be depleted. The generators that produce electricity for the hospitals may soon stop. The health workers say that at least 130 premature babies are at risk of dying if Israel does not release fuel into Gaza. – If you do nothing, then you sentence these babies to death, says Melanie Ward, who heads the aid organization Medical Aid for Palestinians. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Sunday that hospitals will run out of fuel within three days. The head of Al Aqsa Hospital believes that it could happen within a few hours. – Catastrophic consequences Doctor and field worker Morten Rostrup in Doctors Without Borders tells news that a great deal of the medical equipment in an intensive care unit requires electricity. – It will be almost impossible to work in an intensive care unit without electricity, emphasizes the doctor. SERIOUS: Morten Rostrup in Médecins Sans Frontières says it will have catastrophic consequences if the electricity is lost from the hospitals in Gaza. Photo: Kristin Granbo / news He points out that incubators must have a special temperature, breathing machines, medicine pumps and monitoring devices all need electricity. – There will be catastrophic consequences for many patients in Gaza if the electricity disappears from the hospitals, says Rostrup. According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, 150,000 liters of fuel are needed to ensure the power supply to the five largest hospitals in Gaza. None of the first 34 trucks with emergency aid that entered the Gaza Strip last weekend had fuel with them. Israeli authorities fear that it could end up with Hamas. The UN is asking Israel to allow more emergency aid into Gaza. It is said that what has been allowed in so far is only a fraction of what is needed. The UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees says it will suspend its work in Gaza tomorrow if no more fuel arrives. A spokesman for the Israeli army says according to Reuters that no fuel will be allowed into Gaza. But a White House spokesman says the US will work with partners in the region to get fuel into Gaza. Difficult for pregnant women At least seven of the nearly 30 hospitals and clinics in the Gaza Strip have had to close their doors, AP reports. They have been injured in Israeli attacks, or they lack electricity, water, medicine or medical equipment. At least 50,000 pregnant women are also at risk, the World Health Organization says. DRAMATIC: This photo was published today by Doctors Without Borders. A boy is operated on on the floor by health workers who lack a lot of medicine and equipment. According to the organisation, there are a great many patients in the hospitals. The hospitals are overflowing with wounded after more than two weeks of Israeli bombing. Therefore, there will be many pregnant women who cannot count on giving birth under safe conditions in a hospital. According to the WHO, almost two-thirds of Gaza’s health system is out of order due to Israel’s airstrikes. This also applies to twelve out of 35 hospitals. More than 2,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the war started just over two weeks ago, according to the health authorities there. At the same time, Hamas is holding over 200 Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, of which at least 20 are children.
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Incubator babies in Gaza risk dying because of the blockade – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
