The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory said that Israel is deliberately halting all emergency services in Gaza, which “threatens the mass execution of civilians by preventing their means of escape.”
The Observatory called on the United Nations and parties of the international community to put decisive pressure on Israel – as the occupying power – to immediately allow the entry of fuel, immediately resume electricity supplies to Gaza, and fulfill its obligations to protect civilians in the Strip wherever they are.
The Observatory stated that the Israeli authorities’ continued ban on the entry of fuel – although it is subject to monitoring – into Gaza, whether through its territory or Egypt, appears to be deliberately aiming to stop all vital emergency services.
He noted that a full month had passed since the complete power outage in the Gaza Strip, following Israel’s blocking of electricity supplies and the exhaustion of the fuel reserves needed for the only power plant in the Strip.
Since the start of its unprecedented war on October 7, Israel has banned the entry of fuel, which is badly needed to operate electricity generators and operate life-saving equipment.
It was announced that 21 out of 35 hospitals and 47 primary care health centers were out of service in the Gaza Strip due to the exposure of their headquarters or their surroundings to Israeli air and artillery attacks and the exhaustion of the fuel needed to operate their generators.
In recent hours, it was announced that the Shifa Medical Complex, the largest in the Gaza Strip, the Al-Quds Hospital affiliated with the Red Crescent Society, and the Indonesian Hospital were out of service, which means that the only Al-Ahly Arab (Baptist) Hospital remains in service in Gaza City and its north.
The Observatory indicated that 7 out of 18 ambulances belonging to the Palestinian Red Crescent are still working, but they are at risk of completely stopping operations in the coming hours due to running out of fuel, noting that 53 government ambulances were bombed.
He pointed out that this coincides with severe difficulties facing rescue and civil defense crews as a result of being repeatedly targeted in Israeli attacks, which led to the death of 18 and the wounding of dozens of others, in addition to restricting the operation of their vehicles due to the crisis of running out of fuel.
The Observatory confirmed that announcing a complete interruption of communications and Internet service in the Gaza Strip within days due to the exhaustion of the fuel needed to operate the electrical generators that supply network stations, would mean a dangerous deepening of the humanitarian catastrophe and the cutting off of communication mechanisms with emergency, relief and rescue services.
He said that Israel deliberately continues to kill Palestinian civilians without enabling them to seek relief or transfer them to health care and cutting off their communication with all possible forms of emergency services, while it continues to intensify air and artillery bombardment and expand its ground attacks.
The Human Rights Observatory stressed that international law on wars and conflicts requires parties to the conflict to ensure the protection of relief and health workers and their facilities and not to restrict their work in any way.
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2023-11-13 12:37:56
