GAZA CITY, Palestine

A hospital in the northern Gaza Strip announced on Friday that it will be closed in the coming hours due to a lack of fuel, urging the international community to save the lives of patients, particularly babies in the nursery unit.

"Kamal Adwan Hospital will cease operations in the coming hours if the much-needed fuel to power the generators is not provided," hospital Director Hussam Abu Safiya warned while speaking with Anadolu.

He added that the hospital's closure means the death of patients, including babies in the nursery unit.

"We urge the international institutions and the UN to bring fuel for the hospital as soon as possible and before it’s too late," the director urged.

Abu Safiya noted that in recent days, dozens of children have been admitted to the hospital due to malnutrition.

On June 6, the UN children's fund (UNICEF) said nine out of 10 children in Gaza are severely malnourished.

The Gaza-based Government Media Office also warned last week that 3,500 children in the Gaza Strip are at risk of starving to death due to the blockade and the ongoing Israeli war.

In the past few days, the Health Ministry in Gaza has also said hospitals across Gaza are facing severe shortages of many medicines, urging international intervention to secure the medicines that patients and injured people require.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

Over 37,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 86,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar