Gaza doctors cram babies into incubators as fuel shortage threatens hospitals
There were some doctors performing surgery without electricity and several babies in one incubator
Published: 04:07 PM,Jul 10,2025 | EDITED : 08:07 PM,Jul 10,2025
Palestinian newborns share an incubator at Al Helou hospital due to fuel crisis, according to medics, amidst the Israeli military offensive in Gaza City. — Reuters
GAZA: At Gaza's largest hospital, doctors say crippling fuel shortages have led them to put several premature babies in a single incubator as they struggle to keep the newborns alive while Israel presses on with its military campaign.
Overwhelmed medics say the dwindling fuel supplies threaten to plunge them into darkness and paralyse hospitals and clinics in the Palestinian territory, where health services have been pummelled during 21 months of war.
Patients at Al Shifa medical centre in Gaza City faced imminent danger, doctors there said.
'We are forced to place four, five, or sometimes three premature babies in one incubator', said Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia, Al Shifa's director.
'Premature babies are now in a very critical condition'.
The threat comes from 'neither an air strike nor a missile — but a siege choking the entry of fuel', Dr Muneer Alboursh, director general of the Gaza Ministry of Health, said.
The shortage is 'depriving these vulnerable people of their basic right to medical care, turning the hospital into a silent graveyard', he said.
Gaza, a tiny strip of land with a population of more than 2 million, was under a long, Israeli-led blockade before the war between Israel and Hamas erupted.
Palestinians and medical workers have accused the Israeli military of attacking hospitals, allegations it rejects. There have been more than 600 attacks on health facilities since the conflict began, the WHO says, without attributing blame. It has described the health sector in Gaza as being 'on its knees', with shortages of fuel, medical supplies and frequent arrivals of mass casualties.
Just half of Gaza's 36 general hospitals are partially functioning, according to the UN agency.
Abu Selmia warned of a humanitarian catastrophe and accused Israel of 'trickle-feeding' fuel to Gaza's hospitals.
COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about fuel shortages at Gaza's medical facilities and the risk to patients.
Abu Selmia said Al Shifa's dialysis department had been shut down to protect the intensive care unit and operating rooms, which can't be without electricity for even a few minutes.
There are around 100 premature babies in Gaza City hospitals whose lives are at serious risk, he said. Before the war, there were 110 incubators in northern Gaza compared to about 40 now, said Abu Selmia.
'Oxygen stations will stop working. A hospital without oxygen is no longer a hospital. The lab and blood banks will shut down and the blood units in the refrigerators will spoil', Abu Selmia said, adding that the hospital could become 'a graveyard for those inside'.
Officials at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis are also wondering how they will cope with the fuel crisis. The hospital needs 4,500 litres of fuel per day and it now has only 3,000 litres, said hospital spokesperson Mohammed Sakr. — Reuters
Overwhelmed medics say the dwindling fuel supplies threaten to plunge them into darkness and paralyse hospitals and clinics in the Palestinian territory, where health services have been pummelled during 21 months of war.
Patients at Al Shifa medical centre in Gaza City faced imminent danger, doctors there said.
'We are forced to place four, five, or sometimes three premature babies in one incubator', said Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia, Al Shifa's director.
'Premature babies are now in a very critical condition'.
The threat comes from 'neither an air strike nor a missile — but a siege choking the entry of fuel', Dr Muneer Alboursh, director general of the Gaza Ministry of Health, said.
The shortage is 'depriving these vulnerable people of their basic right to medical care, turning the hospital into a silent graveyard', he said.
Gaza, a tiny strip of land with a population of more than 2 million, was under a long, Israeli-led blockade before the war between Israel and Hamas erupted.
Palestinians and medical workers have accused the Israeli military of attacking hospitals, allegations it rejects. There have been more than 600 attacks on health facilities since the conflict began, the WHO says, without attributing blame. It has described the health sector in Gaza as being 'on its knees', with shortages of fuel, medical supplies and frequent arrivals of mass casualties.
Just half of Gaza's 36 general hospitals are partially functioning, according to the UN agency.
Abu Selmia warned of a humanitarian catastrophe and accused Israel of 'trickle-feeding' fuel to Gaza's hospitals.
COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about fuel shortages at Gaza's medical facilities and the risk to patients.
Abu Selmia said Al Shifa's dialysis department had been shut down to protect the intensive care unit and operating rooms, which can't be without electricity for even a few minutes.
There are around 100 premature babies in Gaza City hospitals whose lives are at serious risk, he said. Before the war, there were 110 incubators in northern Gaza compared to about 40 now, said Abu Selmia.
'Oxygen stations will stop working. A hospital without oxygen is no longer a hospital. The lab and blood banks will shut down and the blood units in the refrigerators will spoil', Abu Selmia said, adding that the hospital could become 'a graveyard for those inside'.
Officials at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis are also wondering how they will cope with the fuel crisis. The hospital needs 4,500 litres of fuel per day and it now has only 3,000 litres, said hospital spokesperson Mohammed Sakr. — Reuters