By Mohamed Majed
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – A senior health official in Gaza warned on Friday that hospitals in the enclave may cease operations or reduce services within 48 hours due to Israel's blockade of fuel shipments amid the ongoing genocidal war against Palestinians.
“Hospitals will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the Israeli military’s obstruction of fuel supplies,” Marwan al-Hams, head of field hospitals in Gaza, told the media.
“The Israeli army continues its genocide against our people in general and its destruction of the health care system in particular,” he added.
Al-Hams also noted that Israeli forces targeted the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza earlier in the day, injuring six medical staffers, two of whom are in critical condition.
The Palestinian official added that the Israeli army had struck the hospital's power generator, oxygen station, and water supply system.
“The medical teams in northern Gaza hospitals are without food, and patients are without treatment, while no emergency or civil defense services are operating due to the ongoing genocide,” al-Hams lamented.
Regarding the looming famine, al-Hams warned, “Gaza is on the brink of hunger, with many children hospitalized due to malnutrition, hunger, and dehydration.”
He added, “There have been deaths in northern Gaza hospitals due to hunger, especially among the elderly.”
The people of Gaza are enduring a systematic starvation policy, with severe shortages of food supplies caused by Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid, according to multiple international and UN organizations.
The international community has urged Israel to allow humanitarian assistance into Gaza to prevent famine, but these calls have gone unheeded.
Al-Hams appealed to international organizations to “work to end the war and genocide against our people, to protect and secure medical staff and hospitals, and to allow the entry of all food, medical aid, and fuel into Gaza.”
Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in October last year, killing more than 44,000 people, most of them women and children, and injuring over 104,000.
The second year of genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions labeling the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.
The ICC announced in a landmark move on Thursday that it issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.
* Writing by Mohammad Sio