ActionAid’s partner Al-Awda yesterday has warned that it will completely shut down operations by Wednesday night as fuel stocks near depletion.
“Without the resounding voice of the international community demanding action, these patients may not leave the hospital on the path to recovery but instead in a body bag".
ActionAid’s partner Al-Awda yesterday has 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. 16 hospitals and 34 health centres across Gaza have already closed operations due to Israeli bombardment and a lack of fuel. Al Awda Hospital, since the beginning of the aggression, has provided its services to (3,367) beneficiaries, including (1,572) injured persons and (219) delivery.
Haneen Wishah, communication and media coordinator at the Al-Awda Hospital; "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 and others in moderate ones. We are arguing [for] every single person, institution, humanitarian aid, 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 capacity of fuel to operate and continue the functioning of Al-Awda Hospital.
“80% of patients in the hospital are women and children. Logistics are very rare. And we are almost running out of them. Please, please, please raise our voice, 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 around 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 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 main 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.
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Contact the ActionAid press office on uk.media@actionaid.org or on 07753 973 486.
Riham Jafari, Coordinator of Advocacy and Communication for ActionAid Palestine, is available as a spokesperson. Please contact the press office to arrange.
About ActionAid
ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 41 million people living in more than 71 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.