Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic say sources at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis are warning that babies in the facility’s neonatal department could die if generators have to be switched off due to a lack of fuel.
The news media also reported that babies were at risk from fuel shortages - in October. Gaza health officials warned that fuel would run out in 48 hours on October 24.
WHO warned that hospitals will run out of fuel in three days - in May.
Gaza health officials warned that hospitals will run out of fuel in 48 hours - on June 30.
But somehow, magically, the fuel always shows up.
COGAT sets the record straight:
We continuously facilitate fuel into Gaza for the operation of vital humanitarian infrastructure. Israel allows and facilitates fuel transfer through various routes such as Erez and Kerem Shalom as well as Crossing 96.The UN handles the ordering and distribution of fuel inside Gaza. We have been urging the UN for weeks to expand logistics for fuel distribution for a continuous, optimal response to the health system. Yet, the UN continues to rely on UNRWA's collapsing logistical system.Our ongoing dialogue with int'l aid groups and Gaza hospitals ensures the supply of fuel, generators, and other critical medical equipment. We are committed to collaborating closely with int'l partners to meet urgent humanitarian needs of civilians despite our war with Hamas.
International organizations are more interested in finger pointing than in working to ensure a consistent delivery of fuel to hospitals.
But they've been playing this game for years.
The UN warned that emergency fuel stocks at critical health facilities in Gaza will run out within days. On September 7, 2018.
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The Gaza Ministry of Health said fuel to seven hospitals in Gaza was expected to run out within three days - in April 2017.
Check out this incident, from February 2012.
The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip rejected Egypt’s proposal to transfer fuel to the Gaza Strip power plant via Kerem Shalom Crossing. Ahmad Abu al-Amarin of Energy Authority in Gaza said that the proposal was rejected in light of Hamas’ past experience with Israeli control over goods entering the Gaza Strip. News of the Palestinian Authority’s rejection of Israel’s proposal to sell fuel to the Gaza Strip had been reported earlier. In the meantime, the supply of reserve fuel is running out. About 72% of the fuel supplies of all hospitals in Gaza have already run out and the minister of health in the Strip has warned that hospital generators were expected to stop working today. If this occurs, more than 400 kidney patients in the Gaza Strip will be in danger as their dialysis machines require a steady supply of electricity for many hours at a time.
The 2012 story shows that both Hamas and the PA are willing to risk the lives of patients because of politics. Hamas refused fuel from Israel; the PA rejected an Israeli plan to bring in fuel to Gaza.
It is more politics than reality. And it always was.
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