The Palestinian Red Crescent Society announced on Friday that all its ambulances in the northern Gaza Strip have stopped working due to the depletion of fuel needed to operate them following the ongoing Israeli ground attacks for the sixth consecutive day, coinciding with a tight siege imposed on the governorate.
Earlier on Friday, the government media office in Gaza said that the situation in hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip had reached a catastrophic stage that threatens the lives of children in the intensive care unit and poses a threat to the lives of 400,000 people.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the Israeli army had warned Kamal Adwan, Indonesian and Al-Awda hospitals to evacuate their medical staff and patients, and that it had threatened to kill, destroy and arrest them, similar to what happened at Al-Shifa Hospital months ago.
Red Crescent spokesman, Raed al-Nams, said, “Six ambulances are completely out of service due to the fuel shortage and the Israeli occupation prev
enting the entry of any quantities of fuel into the northern Gaza Strip as part of the strict siege it imposes there.”
He explained that this stoppage led to “paralysis in the ability to provide emergency services to the injured and sick there.”
Over the course of a year of war of extermination, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that the Israeli army deliberately targeted their ambulances, putting most of them out of service.
He stated that the continued Israeli attack and the siege imposed on the north hindered the evacuation of 80 patients from hospitals in the north to hospitals in Gaza City and the central and southern Gaza Strip.
He said about this, “The association has brought in 6 additional ambulances to the northern Gaza Strip in the past 48 hours to evacuate 80 patients, but the crisis is still ongoing and the evacuation has not taken place.”
Al-Nams pointed out that the stoppage of ambulances coincides with “a severe shortage of medical equipment, fuel and medicines inside hospitals in
the northern Gaza Strip, which puts the Palestinians who still live there in a state of extreme danger.”
Earlier, the Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, Maher Shamiya, announced that “the army returned the World Health Organization delegation tasked with evacuating intensive care patients and children from hospitals in the north, and did not allow it to reach the northern Gaza Strip.”
Shamiya explained that “the Israeli army prevented fuel trucks from entering hospitals in Gaza and the north for the fifth time in a row since the start of the military operation last Sunday.”
Al-Nams said that the humanitarian situation in the northern governorate is deteriorating rapidly with the continuation of the Israeli siege.
He added, “This siege prevents the arrival of basic humanitarian, health and relief supplies to the governorate.”
For 6 days, Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip and official institutions said that the Israeli army has imposed a complete siege on the area, preventing the ent
ry of basic supplies such as water, food and medicine, and preventing citizens from leaving and targeting them with shells and gunfire.
Al-Nams explained that the issuance of forced Israeli evacuation orders for the northern areas and the threats directed at residents and medical crews there “caused 4 field medical points to go out of service.”
He stated that hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip continue to operate despite the dangerous conditions they are exposed to, such as Israeli threats or the continuous targeting of their field teams.
He pointed out that the severe shortage of basic equipment and medical supplies such as oxygen and anesthesia drugs exacerbates the difficult conditions experienced by hospitals.
Al-Nams pointed out that the Red Crescent continues to “coordinate with international bodies such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to try to bring medical and relief aid into the north, in light of the extremely
critical situation due to the lack of fuel and necessary medical equipment.”
For the sixth day, the Israeli army continues its ground attack on Jabalia camp and the towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, amidst a tight ground siege, preventing any attempts to enter or exit by firing directly at anyone who moves, according to eyewitnesses.
Over the past few days, the Israeli army has intensified its ground and air attacks in the northern Gaza Strip, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of dozens of Palestinians, while the Palestinian Civil Defense says that the bodies of the martyrs are still under the rubble of destroyed homes and in the streets, and it is impossible to retrieve them due to the deliberate targeting of rescue teams.
These attacks on the eastern and western areas of the Northern Governorate, which began on Sunday, are the most violent since last May, when the Israeli army announced the operation under the pretext of “preventing Hamas from regaining its strength in the region.”
In the town of
Jabalia, this is the third Israeli ground attack on the area since the beginning of the genocidal war on October 7, 2023.
On Monday, the Israeli army warned Palestinians to evacuate their homes in the town and camp of Jabalia and the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia and head south through what it called a “safe corridor,” while the Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza warned citizens against responding to this, considering it “deception and lies.”
Source: Maan News Agency
