Gaza Strip - August 23, 2024

Frequent power outages at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip have threatened the lives of many seriously ill patients, including critically ill children, and also those wounded in the relentless Israeli bombardments since the outbreak of the latest round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October last year.

Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza City houses the only functioning pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in the northern Gaza Strip. But due to the lack of power supply, its medical equipment faces frequent power outages, putting the lives of many seriously ill children into danger.

Anas Obaid, 14, was injured in the Israeli forces' attack on Al-Tabi'in School two weeks ago, which killed more than 100 Palestinians. Although Obaid survived, he suffered severe burns and is currently receiving treatment in the PICU at Kamal Adwan Hospital.

The operation of the PICU and NICU requires a 24/7 power supply, but the hospital currently relies on an old and inefficient solar power system to generate electricity. A large number of medical equipment cannot function properly, resulting in the deaths of many critically ill children.

Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas attack on the southern Israeli border on Oct 7, 2023, which resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and about 250 hostages taken. The prolonged conflict has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 Palestinians in the enclave.

Shotlist:
Gaza City, Gaza Strip - Aug 23, 2024:
1. Various of medical workers taking care of patient in ward;
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Anas Obaid, patient (ending with shot 3):
"My health is getting worse because of the power outages. There are about a dozen power outages here every hour. Once the power goes out, the air conditioner stops working. The equipment I rely on for treatment also stops working. My body temperature rises very quickly. Every morning, my body temperature is affected by the power outages.";
3. Various of medical workers working during power outage; patients in ward;
4. Various of entrance, sign of intensive care unit;
5. Various of medical equipment in operation;
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fares Awda, medical equipment engineer (ending with shots 7-8):
"These sets of equipment are very sensitive to power supply. Unstable power supply causes damage to circuit boards and other components of electrical equipment. As you can see, we have a lot of damaged sets of equipment piled up here. Due to the [Israeli] blockade, we cannot get spare parts for these sets of equipment. We cannot find (parts) in the warehouses of this hospital or other hospitals, because most of the equipment in the hospitals is damaged.";
7. Various of broken medical equipment;
8. Hospital buildings, yard.

[Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]