The Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza has warned of an imminent health crisis as hospitals in the besieged strip continue to face power outages, Press TV reports.
 
“All departments of the Gaza Strip hospitals including kidney, heart, and Intensive Care could stop functioning at any time due to power outages and the lack of back-up generators,” Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra said.
 
Hospitals are dealing with outages of up to 12 hours a day, forcing them to rely on emergency generators which consume thousands of liters of fuel per day.
 
“Our fuel reserves are extremely low and we are calling on the international community to help us. We are especially asking Egypt to supply us with urgent shipments of fuel for the hospitals,” Qedra added.
 
Meanwhile, the outages also put at risk medication for the chronically ill, which require constant refrigeration.
 
International activists criticize Israel for depriving the Palestinian people in the coastal strip of their basic rights.
 
“Once again (the) criminal siege is causing an acute health crisis for patients in Gaza. This is part of the same illegal policy that denies them treatment in other countries, that denies students educational opportunities overseas, and that denies the entire Gaza Strip the possibility of any functional industry,” Pro-Palestinian activist Joe Catron says.
 
Palestinians in Gaza are living in what has been called, the “world’s largest open-air prison” as Israel retains full control of the airspace, territorial waters, and border crossings of the strip and keeps it under a crippling land, aerial, and naval siege.
 
(Press TV)