Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza will become mass grave if fuel runs out – UK doctor

Hassan Abu-Sita, British-Palestinian doctor working at Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip told CNN on Tuesday that Gaza’s largest hospital would become a “mass grave” if it ran out of fuel.

Abu-Sita added that over 150 patients are reliant on ventilators, and the lack of electricity has paralysed the operation rooms and anesthesia machines. This has led to a severe disruption in the hospital’s capacity to provide essential care.

There is already a lack of basic medical supplies such as special bandages for burn wounds, there are already power outages and the water pressure is no longer sufficient to operate the sterilisation machines for surgical instruments, he said.

The hospital, which actually has a capacity of up to 700 beds, is currently caring for 1,700 people who are lying in the hallways with mattresses. Abu-Sita assured “there is an urgent need for medicines, fuel and food to meet the needs of Gaza Strip’s health sector, as well as the needs of the residents in Gaza Strip.”