Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al‑Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, warned of an imminent collapse in health services at the largest hospital in the Strip, due to the occupation’s continued policy of “drip‑feeding” fuel supplies. This critical shortage has already forced the administration to shut down the dialysis unit in order to conserve the remaining fuel for operating life‑saving departments.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Abu Salmiya said the hospital’s departments are experiencing severe overcrowding, with occupancy rates exceeding 250%, while medical teams have been working nonstop for days under extreme exhaustion and malnutrition—conditions that have led some staff members to be admitted as patients rather than serve as caregivers.
He also pointed out that the abduction and shooting of Dr. Marwan Al‑Hams by occupation forces is part of a systematic policy to target medical personnel. He confirmed that Al‑Hams’s fate remains unknown and expressed deep concern for his life.
Abu Salmiya added: “We have nothing to offer malnourished patients except some medical solutions… Yet despite everything, we will not abandon our posts. We will continue treating our patients and the wounded.”
In the same context, the spokesperson for Al‑Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central governorate warned that health services may cease within hours as fuel supplies run out, causing partial paralysis of medical examinations and vital equipment.
He explained that half of the central governorate is completely besieged, with no safe areas for civilians, while diseases spread rapidly among children due to overcrowding, malnutrition, and lack of clean water.
The spokesperson added: “The occupation targets anyone receiving humanitarian aid—even children—and we are astonished by the world’s silence in the face of the escalating health catastrophe inside Gaza’s hospitals.”