Gaza's Only Cancer Hospital Goes Out of Service Amid Constant Israeli Bombardment

Wednesday, 01 November 2023 7:08 PM

A general view shows smoke as it rises following Israeli strikes in Gaza, October 9, 2023. (Photo by Reuters)

Health officials say the only cancer treatment hospital in the Gaza Strip has gone out of service after it ran out of fuel amid the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the besieged enclave.

Subhi Skaik, the director of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital said during a press briefing on Wednesday that the hospital, which mainly treats cancer patients, had used up its fuel and was now out of service.

"We tell the world don't leave cancer patients to a certain death due to the hospital being out of service," the director, Subhi Skaik, was quoted as saying

Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila in a statement confirmed that this brings the total number of hospitals not operating right now in the Strip to 16 out of 35.

"The lives of 70 cancer patients inside the hospital are seriously threatened," the statement read.

"The number of cancer patients in the Gaza Strip is about 2,000 living in catastrophic health conditions as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Strip and the displacement of a large number," al-Kaila added.

Urgent final call for assistance

Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry has issued an urgent final call for assistance as the al-Shifaa Hospital and Indonesian Hospital faced a critical shortage of fuel on Tuesday evening.

The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qudra, emphasized the urgent need for intervention from the international community to save the lives of those in the hospitals.

"Plea, plea, to all countries of the world to take urgent action to save the wounded and sick in al-Shifaa Medical Complex and the Indonesian Hospital, as we are only a few hours away from stopping the main generators in Al-Shifaa Medical Complex and the Indonesian Hospital, and this is what we feared and warned against repeatedly," he said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, al-Qudra warned that the discontinuation of the generators would have severe consequences for over 650 kidney failure patients at Al-Shifaa Medical Complex and the Indonesian Hospital, as well as 62 individuals relying on artificial respiration in intensive care units, and 42 newborn babies in need of life support equipment in the children's incubators.

A leaked document has emerged that Israel is planning to transfer Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

"This is the final call to all the free people of the world, to all the countries of the world, to our Arab and Islamic peoples and countries, and to the international community of all sects. Everyone must move and intervene urgently to save the wounded and sick in the Gaza Strip" Al-Qudra added.

United Nations experts warned against 'collective punishment' for the people of Gaza, before predicting a 'humanitarian crisis' and then claimed that 'hell is settling in' for the region.

Israel has performed a new deadly airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp north of the Gaza Strip as the regime continues its atrocities against Palestinians for 26 days.

The new attack on Jabalia killed and injured dozens of people. That comes a day after at least 400 people were killed or injured in the first strike on the refugee camp.

The Jabalia refugee camp in the northern part of the Gaza Strip is struck again, a day after an Israeli air attack that killed dozens and sparked widespread condemnation.

Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, condemned the Israeli attack on the Jabalia refugee camp. He underlined that the ongoing resistance operation against the Israeli regime was the beginning of the liberation of Palestine.

Israel’s deadly attack on the densely-populated Jabalia refugee camp has drawn international condemnation even from the regime’s allies.

The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell says he is appalled by the high number of casualties. He, however, reiterated the bloc’s support for Israel.

Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf has decried the attacks as blatant disregard for human life.

The Tuesday attack also left China deeply shocked, with its Foreign Ministry calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates also made similar calls. 

Saudi Arabia said the dangerous humanitarian situation in Gaza can’t be justified at all, while Qatar warned against the expansion of Israeli attacks to include civilian targets.

Jordan and Egypt have also strongly condemned Israel’s inhumane targeting of the camp.

Meanwhile, Iran has described the strike as another stain on the long list of Israel’s war crimes.

Palestinian officials say the Israeli regime has dropped more than 18,000 tons of explosives on Gaza.

Since October 7, Israeli attacks on Gaza have claimed the lives of nearly 8,800 people, including more than 3,600 children.