2023-10-22 18:19:06
Israel has cut the power and fuel is running out
Consequence of “complete seat” announced by Israel two days following the unprecedented Hamas attack on the country on October 7, the electricity supply to the Gaza Strip was cut. The territory therefore mainly uses generators, which require electricity to operate. fuel, which no longer enters.
The World Health Organization (WHO) asked Israel, during a press briefing Thursday in Geneva, to authorize its delivery as part of humanitarian aid, to power hospital generators and water stations. desalination.
“Tiny quantities”
But if Israel has given the green light to the entry of humanitarian aid, of which a first limited delivery was made on Saturday from Egypt, fuel is excluded. The UN insisted on Saturday on the need to also transport fuel to Gaza.
The WHO said that Gazan hospitals had already exhausted their reserves. “What’s left are tiny amounts of fuel“used”to desperately try to provide a few days“additional energy supply”where it can be done“, added the director of the health emergencies program at WHO, Michael Ryan.
Other reserves have been allocated to hospital generators to maintain the most necessary care. Premature babies are treated in seven neonatal units across the Gaza Strip. “If they are placed in incubators with mechanical ventilation (incubators, editor’s note), from the moment the electricity is cut off, we worry regarding their survival.” said Mr. Crickx.
The health ministry in Gaza, a territory controlled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, said on Saturday that 130 premature babies were “in danger of death” due to lack of fuel.
Children and pregnant women in conflict
Around 160 women give birth every day in Gaza, according to the United Nations Population Fund, which also estimates that 50,000 pregnant women currently live in this territory. Gaza’s 2.4 million residents face a serious humanitarian crisis.
Israel swore to itself “to annihilate” Hamas – classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel – following the unprecedented attack launched by this movement on October 7 on its territory, from Gaza.
More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel by Hamas since October 7, the majority of them civilians on the first day of the attack, according to Israeli authorities.
Around 4,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died in relentless Israeli retaliatory strikes on Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. This report includes 1,756 children.
1698021190
#Unicef #warns #babies #incubators #risk #dying #Gaza #Israel #passage #fuel