The UN warns against the closure of Gaza’s only cancer hospital
The UN confirmed this Thursday that the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in Gaza, the only one dedicated to treating cancer patients, has suspended operations due to a lack of fuel, the Palestinian Authority warned on Wednesday. The United Nations has also denounced bombings at the Al Hilo Hospital Center, which was being used as a maternity hospital. Both are in Gaza City, the Strip’s capital and most populous city.
Al Hilo suffered projectile attacks yesterday afternoon, according to the daily report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It is estimated that there are currently around 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza and around 160 births per day; The maternity facilities of the area’s main hospital, Shifa, are now used to treat the wounded, so its activities have been moved to the Al Hilo center.
Like the UN, Palestinian Health Minister Mai al Kaila warned in a statement on Wednesday that “the lives of 70 cancer patients at the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital are at serious risk due to its closure.” On October 17th, its general director Dr. Sobhi Sikk announced that “a large part of its services” would have to be interrupted and that the center would be closed within the next 48 hours at the latest. A week later, the WHO Middle East Office (EMRO) confirmed that the operation was “partially” operational due to fuel shortages.
The report warns that 14 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals capable of receiving patients are not working, as are 71% of primary care centers (51 out of 72). Gaza Health Ministry sources have warned that Shifa Hospital in the capital and Indonesia’s Beit Lahiya Hospital in the devastated north of the Gaza Strip have almost exhausted their fuel and could therefore soon cease operations.
The Israeli army, which has attacked positions near hospitals such as Shifa or the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, has defended that parts of these facilities or underground areas beneath them are used by Hamas for military purposes. (Efe)