ActionAid’s partner, Al-Awda Hospital, warned that it will completely shut down operations by Wednesday night as fuel stocks near depletion.
The hospital has made an urgent plea for the international community to intervene so that it can continue providing care for 60 patients, some of whose lives will be in grave danger when the hospital’s fuel reserves run out.
Haneen Wishah, Communication and Media Coordinator at the Al-Awda Hospital, said:
“This is an urgent appeal to support Al-Awda Hospital with fuel. We have around 60 patients in the hospital. Some of them are in serious condition. We are arguing [for] every single person, institution, and UN agencies to support Al-Awda Hospital with fuel. We will be closing very soon, within less than 30 hours, if we don’t have enough…fuel to operate and continue functioning.
80% of patients in the hospital are women and children. Please, please, please…support Al-Awda Hospital, and [secure] fuel to be able to continue the functioning of [the] hospital because it’s the only hospital in the northern area of [The] Gaza Strip that is providing maternity services to the population there. Thank you.”
Riham Jafari, Advocacy and Communications Coordinator at ActionAid Palestine, said:
“In recent weeks, the world has seen the unwavering dedication of Gaza’s doctors and nurses as they continue their life-saving work amidst constant bombardment. They tirelessly care for babies in incubators, patients on life support, and thousands of internally displaced people seeking refuge at the hospital. However, with the imminent shutdown of the Al-Awda Hospital, these healthcare workers are rendered powerless in the face of dwindling fuel stocks, as life-saving services hang in the balance.
Of the 476 aid and supply trucks destined for Gaza, even after nearly a month of relentless bombings, not a drop of fuel has made its way through due to [the] Israeli government restrictions. With countless lives at stake, particularly in hospitals like Al-Awda, the lifeline for these facilities lies in the arrival of fuel-bearing aid trucks. Without the resounding voice of the international community demanding urgent action before time runs out, these patients may not leave the hospital on the path to recovery but instead in a body bag.”
As well as providing emergency and specialized services, Al-Awda Hospital is the leading and only provider of maternity services in the northern Gaza Strip. Since October 7, it has provided services to more than 3,360 people, including treating 1,572 injured patients and delivering 219 babies. Around 80% of patients currently at Al-Awda Hospital are women and children. 16 hospitals and 34 health centers across Gaza have already closed operations due to Israeli bombardment and a lack of fuel.
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For media requests, please email Christal.James@actionaid.org or call 704 665 9743.
The following spokesperson is available:
- Riham Jafari, Coordinator of Advocacy and Communication for ActionAid Palestine
About ActionAid
ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 15 million people living in more than 40 of the world’s poorest countries. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.
