The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) confirmed on Sunday that the risk of death looms over 120 premature infants, who are lying in incubators, most of whom live on ventilators, due to the imminent depletion of fuel needed to operate electricity generators in hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
UNICEF spokesman Jonathan Cricks told AFP that Gaza's hospitals are currently counting "120 newborns in incubators, 70 of whom are living on ventilators, and of course this is very worrying".
Pediatrics and maternity departments in the Gaza Strip need energy as a primary source of treatment for babies in incubators and help them breathe to ensure their survival, as they are not fully developed in the mother's womb. The World Health Organization said on Thursday that hospitals had run out of fuel to run the generators.
In addition to premature infants, the world organization noted that some 1000,<> cases of dialysis in the Gaza Strip are also at risk if generators stop working.
In a statement to Al Jazeera, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the health system has lost all its treatment capacity and fuel necessary to operate it, and the limited aid that entered the Strip is insufficient and did not reach hospitals. He stressed that the mechanism of delivery of aid will not make any change in the deteriorating humanitarian reality.
The director of operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza said the situation was dire, humanitarian supplies were very limited, food and drinking water were scarce, adding: "We need a sustainable supply line of aid to avoid a catastrophe in the Strip."
Smallpox, scabies and diarrhea
In a related matter, the United Nations said that the cases of chickenpox, scabies and diarrhoea are increasing in light of the catastrophic health conditions in the Gaza Strip.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said one reason for the high cases was that people had to rely on contaminated water, due to a lack of drinking water.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 1800,4651 children were killed out of <>,<> killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip that has been ongoing since the seventh of this month.
The Israeli bombardment comes in response to the unprecedented "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation launched by the Palestinian resistance movement (Hamas) with the resistance factions, during which more than 1400,<> Israelis were killed.
After the surprise attack, Israel tightened the blockade already imposed on the Strip since 2007, cutting off supplies of fuel, water, water and food, and hospitals are suffering from severe shortages of fuel, water and medicine, despite the entry of some aid convoys yesterday from the Rafah crossing.
Twenty aid trucks crossed from Egypt into the Gaza Strip carrying food, water and medicine, but none carried fuel. Michael Ryan, director of emergencies at the World Health Organization, said 20 trucks were a drop in an ocean of need now in Gaza.