Hospitals, bakeries, ambulances and telecommunications systems are all running on limited fuel due to unstable supplies entering Gaza.
The amount of medical aid crossing into Gaza is also insufficient, according to the World Health Organization.
A surgeon in Gaza City with Project Hope, Dr. Osama Hamed, said in a statement that he treated a 13-year-old boy last week with a vascular and ureteral injury, but the hospital lacked the sutures needed to operate. A staffer had to physically run to a nearby hospital to get the last box they had, he says.
Dr. Hamed says doctors are also seeing malnourished children daily in Gaza City. NPR has previously
reported on malnourished children dying in central Gaza as the health-care system collapses.
“We see patients who are just skin and bones, as a sign of severe malnutrition,” he observed. “Patients have reported not eating any protein for several months, making it impossible for their bodies to recover from infections and injuries.”
Additionally, there isn’t enough drinking water in Gaza. “The other day, a young girl was admitted to the operating room and begged me for water,” he says.