Israel's chief of staff Herzi Halevi said his country may allow the supervised transport of fuel to the Gaza Strip if hospitals "run out of it" but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly rejected it, as the country continues to bomb hospitals and refugee camps, while the health system has collapsed due to a lack of supplies and the overwhelming situation amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Netanyahu "has not approved the entry of fuel into Gaza," his office said in a statement.
"We will see when that day comes," Halevi told the journalists earlier on Thursday, claiming that hospitals still have fuel, rejecting the appeal of Palestinian doctors who perform surgeries using cellphone lights due to lack of fuel to run the power generators. His callous remarks also disregard the U.N. and other humanitarian organizations that have called on Israel to let fuel in as most hospitals in the Gaza Strip can no longer treat patients due to lack of fuel.
The Health Ministry in Gaza says 16 out of 35 hospitals in the coastal area are no longer able to treat patients due to a lack of fuel.
Other clinics can only provide limited care, while fuel is "desperately needed for the deployment of life-saving equipment," according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The head of pediatrics at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza warned on Thursday that most of the health facilities in Gaza will soon become "graveyards" if medical supplies are not brought in.
"We are lacking essential medical needs to treat the wounded. Imagine today I had to clean wounds for little children using chlorine and mixed it with water," Hussam Abu Safiya told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).
He said that most of the injured are children and that they are doing their best to save them.
"We are using primitive means. Some operations are being done without anesthesia. Doctors are even carrying out some operations using cellphone lights due also to lack of fuel to run the generators," the doctor said.
"We have no painkillers and no antibiotics anymore," he added.
According to findings from the aid organization CARE, women in the Gaza Strip are increasingly having to undergo emergency cesarean sections without anesthesia.
Narcotics are not available and hospitals are "completely overwhelmed," according to a statement by CARE.
The lack of medical care also significantly increases the risk of maternal and infant mortality.
"Due to dwindling food supplies, there is a significant overall risk to the health of Gaza's 283,000 children under the age of 5, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women," said Hiba Tibi, country director for CARE in the West Bank and Gaza.
Hospitals cannot be part of combat, UN warns
The U.N. warned Thursday that hospitals cannot be taken to be part of combat following reports that Gaza's main cancer hospital went out of service due to Israeli airstrikes and a shortage of fuel.
The "Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in Gaza City reportedly ran out of fuel yesterday and was forced to stop most of its activities leaving 70 cancer patients under serious risk," U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
Four patients have already lost their lives after the power outage since Wednesday, reports said Thursday.
"I think this just only underscores a tragic humanitarian situation," he said, noting the need to allow fuel into Gaza.
"Hospitals cannot be evacuated and moved," he said. "It also yet another reminder of the fact that hospitals cannot be part of any combat."
The remarks came as the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, the only public hospital for cancer patients in the Gaza Strip, went out of service Wednesday.