Gaza Strip - May 18, 2024

Storyline:
Hospitals in southern Gaza are in crisis as fuel shortages resulting from the Rafah border crossing closure threaten medical services, endangering patients' lives including newborns in critical care, amid ongoing Israeli military operations and a lack of international aid.

Israel's military recently sent tanks into Rafah and took control of the nearby border crossing into Egypt, the main channel for aid to the besieged Palestinian territories.

According to Palestinian health authorities, the ongoing closure of the Rafah crossing, due to Israeli military operations, has severely impacted the flow of humanitarian aid.

The closure has caused a health crisis, leading to deaths and severe conditions among the wounded and sick as hospitals in southern Gaza have run out of fuel and medicines.

Earlier this month, the Director-General of the World Health Organization stated that hospitals in southern Gaza have only a few days of fuel supplies left due to the border closure, threatening a health disaster.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced last Wednesday that electricity generators would stop working in several hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip due to a lack of fuel, endangering the lives of patients.

In Khan Yunis, the premature infants' department at the Nasser Hospital is one of the crucial units at risk. Doctors fear that a halt in the electricity supply would be fatal for babies and children.

As Israeli artillery continues intense bombardment of residential neighborhoods in eastern and central Rafah, hospitals face increased pressure when more injured arrive for treatment.

Khalil Al-Shatali, one of the injured, has been on a waiting list due to the hospital's operational constraints caused by severe fuel shortages and a lack of medical supplies.

Palestinian Minister of Health Majed Abu Ramadan confirmed in press statements this week that more than 80 percent of hospitals and health care centers in Gaza are out of service due to the ongoing conflict since last October.

The minister stressed that the health situation is catastrophic, depriving citizens of their right to treatment and requiring urgent international intervention to save Gaza's health system.

Shotlist:
Gaza Strip - May 18, 2024:
1. Various of medical devices being left unused without electricity;
2. Various of power generator being left unused without electricity;
3. Various of people in hospital hallway without light;
4. Various of medical devices being left unused without electricity;
Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip - May 18, 2024:
5. Various of premature infants' department, babies in incubators, medical device;
6. Various of Ahmed Al-Farra checking premature baby in incubator;
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ahmed Al-Farra, head of Incubators Department, Nasser Hospital:
"These devices depend entirely on electrical energy, which relies on the fuel supplied to the hospital through the crossings. I stress here that stopping fuel supplies means stopping the generators from working, and thus stopping these incubators and respirators, which effectively means issuing a death certificate for these newborn babies.";
Gaza Strip - May 18, 2024:
8. People transferring injured person on stretcher from ambulance to hospital;
9. Boy mourning for deceased family member, collapsing to floor;
10. People transferring injured person on stretcher;
11. Various of injured person Khalil Al-Shatali on hospital bed, waiting in vain;
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Khalil Al-Shatali, injured Palestinian:
"There was a bombing in the area near where I live. The bombing resulted in injuries to my face and chest, and deep wounds in both legs, causing tissue and muscle damage in my right leg, which needs an operation. My left leg needs platinum implants, and I have been waiting for 10 days for the operation to be performed. However, there is a delay due to the reduction in operations at the hospital and the lack of platinum available. If the platinum were available, I would have been home by now."
13. Various of hospital floor without light, discarded beds;
14. Various of empty field, destroyed ambulance.

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