Gaza's largest hospital forced to end dialysis services amid fuel crisis
On Tuesday morning, the head of al-Shifa Complex in Gaza City announced that the dialysis ward would completely shut down by noon, as fuel needed to operate the generators had run out.
'This is happening for the first time since the beginning of the war on Gaza,' Dr Muhammad Abu Hassira, a specialist in internal medicine and nephrology at al-Shifa Medical Complex, told Middle East Eye.
'During the worst periods of the war, the dialysis unit was forced to suspend operations multiple times for several days due to Israeli raids on the hospital. Today, the hospital is still partially functioning, but we simply cannot run the dialysis machines because there is no fuel.'
Dr Abu Hassira confirmed that the dialysis ward had completely shut down earlier in the day, with the small amount of remaining fuel running a single generator reserved exclusively for the intensive care unit.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
'Kidney failure patients came today, and we painfully had to ask them to go back home. This has very serious repercussions on their health,' he added.
On 19 June, United Nations agencies warned that vital services are 'hours away' from shutting down.
'We are really - unless the situation changes - hours away from a catastrophic decline and a shutdown of more facilities if no fuel enters or more fuel isn't retrieved immediately,' Olga Cherevko from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said in a statement.
According to OCHA, between 15 May and 9 June, Israeli authorities denied access to northern Gaza 14 times, preventing fuel retrieval and resulting in the looting of approximately 260,000 litres essential for running hospitals and other lifesaving services.
Collapse of health services
'I cannot imagine what will happen to my grandmother if she doesn't receive her regular dialysis sessions this week. They had already been reduced from three to just two per week,' Ahmed al-Sayed, 31, told MEE.
'If she misses even one session, she feels suffocated and struggles to breathe. But if it goes beyond that, her body starts to swell, and it won't be long before she dies.'
'The shutdown of the dialysis unit at al-Shifa Hospital today means the imminent death of hundreds of patients'
- Muhammad Abu Hassira, doctor
Before the recent shutdown of the dialysis ward, patients had been facing several challenges that frequently disrupted or cancelled their sessions.
By July 2024, Gaza City had lost nearly all of its water production capacity, with approximately 88 percent of its water wells and 100 percent of its desalination plants damaged or destroyed, according to Oxfam International.
This destruction of water infrastructure has left medical staff struggling to secure the clean water required to operate dialysis machines.
Even after the ceasefire and partial rebuilding of al-Shifa's dialysis ward, the water shortage remains critical, continuing to threaten the lives of patients who cannot survive without regular, uninterrupted care.
On numerous occasions, dialysis sessions have been cancelled due to the lack of water.
'We already struggle with transportation, often walking most of the way while pushing her in a wheelchair to reach the hospital,' Sayed added.
'Because of the fuel crisis, taxis are rarely available. Sometimes we miss her dialysis session altogether while searching for one, or because we arrive too late.'
Since October 2023, more than 400 kidney patients in the Gaza Strip have died due to war-related conditions and ongoing restrictions, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health.
The breakdown of the healthcare system has been driven by Israeli military assaults on hospitals, ongoing blockades on essential medicines, and the cutting off of electricity, food, and water.
But the deadliest blow for kidney patients came when Israeli forces stormed al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest medical complex.
Since then, the hospital's dialysis ward has been struggling to maintain its operations.
Imminent death
According to doctors at al-Shifa Hospital, the death of around 41 percent of kidney patients since the beginning of Israel's war on the Strip did not alleviate the pressure on the dialysis units, as the number of residents suffering from kidney failure has increased during the war, due to the lack of access to healthy food and clean drinking water.
Israel destroys north Gaza's sole kidney dialysis facility Read More »
Gaza's Ministry of Health's records show that there are 728 kidney failure patients across the coastal envlave, distributed among four dialysis centres in northern, central, and southern Gaza. About half of these patients receive treatment at al-Shifa Hospital.
Typically, patients require 12 hours of dialysis per week. However, even under the best conditions before the dialysis unit shut down, the hospital could only provide four to six hours of dialysis per patient.
Currently, approximately 30 dialysis machines are available at al-Shifa Hospital, serving over 350 kidney failure patients in Gaza City and northern Gaza, especially after Israeli forces bombed the Noura al-Kaabi dialysis centre in the northern Gaza Strip in June, which had provided vital kidney dialysis services.
'The shutdown of the dialysis unit at al-Shifa Hospital today means the imminent death of hundreds of patients,' Dr Abu Hassira said.
'Some patients' condition will already begin to deteriorate today because they missed their dialysis session, while most of them only have two or three days before their condition worsens, and then they will start dying.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Today
6 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Israeli forces kill 74 more Palestinians in Gaza
Israeli forces killed at least 74 people in Gaza on Monday with airstrikes that left 30 dead at a seaside cafe and gunfire that left 23 dead as Palestinians tried to get desperately needed food aid, witnesses and health officials said. One airstrike hit Al-Baqa Cafe in Gaza City when it was crowded with women and children, said Ali Abu Ateila, who was inside. "Without a warning, all of a sudden, a warplane hit the place, shaking it like an earthquake,' he said. Dozens were wounded, many critically, alongside at least 30 people killed, said Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministry's emergency and ambulance service in northern Gaza. The war has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It says more than half of the dead were women and children. Two other strikes on a Gaza City street killed 15 people, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. A strike on a building killed six people near the town of Zawaida, according to Al-Aqsa hospital. Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Al-Aimawi family's home, destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Al-Zawaideh, Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. AP The cafe, one of the few businesses to continue operating during the 20-month war, was a gathering spot for residents seeking internet access and a place to charge their phones. Videos circulating on social media showed bloodied and disfigured bodies on the ground and the wounded being carried away in blankets. Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed 11 people who had been seeking food in southern Gaza, according to witnesses, hospitals, and Gaza's Health Ministry. Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said it received the bodies of people shot while returning from an aid site associated with the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund. It was part of a deadly pattern that has killed more than 500 Palestinians around the chaotic and controversial aid distribution program over the past month. The shootings happened around 3 kilometres (1.8 miles) from the GHF site in Khan Younis, as Palestinians returned from the site along the only accessible route. Palestinians are often forced to travel long distances to access the GHF hubs in hopes of obtaining aid. A Palestinian woman mourns by the body of a relative killed in an Israeli strike on Al-Baqa cafeteria on Gaza City seafront, at the city's Al-Shifa hospital on Monday. AFP Nasser Hospital said an additional person was killed near a GHF hub in the southern city of Rafah. Another person was killed while waiting to receive aid near the Netzarim corridor, which separates northern and southern Gaza, according to Al-Awda hospital. Ten other people were killed at a United Nations aid warehouse in northern Gaza, according to the Health Ministry's ambulance and emergency service. One witness, Monzer Hisham Ismail said troops attacked the crowds returning from the GHF hub in Khan Younis. "We were targeted by (the Israeli) artillery,' he said. Palestinians carry the body of a relative killed in an Israeli strike on Al-Baqa cafeteria on Gaza City seafront on Monday. AFP Yousef Mahmoud Mokheimar was walking with dozens of others when he saw troops in tanks and other vehicles racing toward them. They fired warning shots before firing at the crowds, he said. "They fired at us indiscriminately,' he said, adding that he was shot in a leg, and a man was shot while attempting to rescue him. He said he saw troops detaining six people, including three children. "We don't know whether they are still alive,' he said. The Israeli military said it was reviewing information about the attacks. In the past, the military has said it fires warning shots at people who move suspiciously or get too close to troops including while collecting aid. Israel wants the GHF to replace a system coordinated by the United Nations and international aid groups. Along with the United States, Israel has accused the Hamas group of stealing aid and using it to prop up its rule in the enclave. The UN denies there is systematic diversion of aid. Palestinians mourn by the bodies of people killed in an Israeli strike on Al-Baqa cafeteria on Monday. AFP The Israeli military said it had recently taken steps to improve organisation in the area, including the installation of new fencing and signage and the opening of additional routes to access aid. Israel says it only targets fighters and blames civilian deaths on the Palestinian group Hamas, accusing the fighters of hiding among civilians because they operate in populated areas. The military intensified its bombardment campaign across Gaza City and the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp. On Sunday and Monday, Israel issued widespread evacuation orders for large swaths of northern Gaza. Palestinians reported massive bombing overnight into Monday morning, describing the fresh attacks as a "scorched earth' campaign that targeted mostly empty buildings and civilian infrastructure. Blood, rubble, and what appears to be a giant stuffed doll lie scattered in a café after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike that killed more than 30 people near the port in Gaza City, on Monday. AP "They destroy whatever left standing … the sound of bombing hasn't stopped,' said Mohamed Mahdy, a Gaza City resident who fled his damaged house Monday morning. Awad with the emergency and ambulance services said that most of Gaza City and Jabaliya have become inaccessible and ambulances were unable to respond to distress calls from people trapped in the rubble. The Israeli military said it had taken multiple steps to notify civilians of operations to target Hamas' military command and control centers in northern Gaza. Agence France-Presse
Middle East Eye
8 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Gaza's largest hospital forced to end dialysis services amid fuel crisis
At least 350 kidney failure patients in Gaza face imminent death as the Strip's largest medical complex announces a halt to dialysis sessions due to fuel shortages. On Tuesday morning, the head of al-Shifa Complex in Gaza City announced that the dialysis ward would completely shut down by noon, as fuel needed to operate the generators had run out. 'This is happening for the first time since the beginning of the war on Gaza,' Dr Muhammad Abu Hassira, a specialist in internal medicine and nephrology at al-Shifa Medical Complex, told Middle East Eye. 'During the worst periods of the war, the dialysis unit was forced to suspend operations multiple times for several days due to Israeli raids on the hospital. Today, the hospital is still partially functioning, but we simply cannot run the dialysis machines because there is no fuel.' Dr Abu Hassira confirmed that the dialysis ward had completely shut down earlier in the day, with the small amount of remaining fuel running a single generator reserved exclusively for the intensive care unit. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters 'Kidney failure patients came today, and we painfully had to ask them to go back home. This has very serious repercussions on their health,' he added. On 19 June, United Nations agencies warned that vital services are 'hours away' from shutting down. 'We are really - unless the situation changes - hours away from a catastrophic decline and a shutdown of more facilities if no fuel enters or more fuel isn't retrieved immediately,' Olga Cherevko from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said in a statement. According to OCHA, between 15 May and 9 June, Israeli authorities denied access to northern Gaza 14 times, preventing fuel retrieval and resulting in the looting of approximately 260,000 litres essential for running hospitals and other lifesaving services. Collapse of health services 'I cannot imagine what will happen to my grandmother if she doesn't receive her regular dialysis sessions this week. They had already been reduced from three to just two per week,' Ahmed al-Sayed, 31, told MEE. 'If she misses even one session, she feels suffocated and struggles to breathe. But if it goes beyond that, her body starts to swell, and it won't be long before she dies.' 'The shutdown of the dialysis unit at al-Shifa Hospital today means the imminent death of hundreds of patients' - Muhammad Abu Hassira, doctor Before the recent shutdown of the dialysis ward, patients had been facing several challenges that frequently disrupted or cancelled their sessions. By July 2024, Gaza City had lost nearly all of its water production capacity, with approximately 88 percent of its water wells and 100 percent of its desalination plants damaged or destroyed, according to Oxfam International. This destruction of water infrastructure has left medical staff struggling to secure the clean water required to operate dialysis machines. Even after the ceasefire and partial rebuilding of al-Shifa's dialysis ward, the water shortage remains critical, continuing to threaten the lives of patients who cannot survive without regular, uninterrupted care. On numerous occasions, dialysis sessions have been cancelled due to the lack of water. 'We already struggle with transportation, often walking most of the way while pushing her in a wheelchair to reach the hospital,' Sayed added. 'Because of the fuel crisis, taxis are rarely available. Sometimes we miss her dialysis session altogether while searching for one, or because we arrive too late.' Since October 2023, more than 400 kidney patients in the Gaza Strip have died due to war-related conditions and ongoing restrictions, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health. The breakdown of the healthcare system has been driven by Israeli military assaults on hospitals, ongoing blockades on essential medicines, and the cutting off of electricity, food, and water. But the deadliest blow for kidney patients came when Israeli forces stormed al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest medical complex. Since then, the hospital's dialysis ward has been struggling to maintain its operations. Imminent death According to doctors at al-Shifa Hospital, the death of around 41 percent of kidney patients since the beginning of Israel's war on the Strip did not alleviate the pressure on the dialysis units, as the number of residents suffering from kidney failure has increased during the war, due to the lack of access to healthy food and clean drinking water. Israel destroys north Gaza's sole kidney dialysis facility Read More » Gaza's Ministry of Health's records show that there are 728 kidney failure patients across the coastal envlave, distributed among four dialysis centres in northern, central, and southern Gaza. About half of these patients receive treatment at al-Shifa Hospital. Typically, patients require 12 hours of dialysis per week. However, even under the best conditions before the dialysis unit shut down, the hospital could only provide four to six hours of dialysis per patient. Currently, approximately 30 dialysis machines are available at al-Shifa Hospital, serving over 350 kidney failure patients in Gaza City and northern Gaza, especially after Israeli forces bombed the Noura al-Kaabi dialysis centre in the northern Gaza Strip in June, which had provided vital kidney dialysis services. 'The shutdown of the dialysis unit at al-Shifa Hospital today means the imminent death of hundreds of patients,' Dr Abu Hassira said. 'Some patients' condition will already begin to deteriorate today because they missed their dialysis session, while most of them only have two or three days before their condition worsens, and then they will start dying.'
Middle East Eye
8 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Death toll in Gaza rises to 56,647
The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since October 2023 has risen to 56,647, the Palestinian health ministry has announced. At least 134,105 have been wounded during that time. Over the past 24 hours, Israeli forces killed 112 Palestinians in the enclave, and wounded 463 more. Since Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire in March, its forces have killed 6,315 in Gaza and wounded a further 22,064.
