RedZero
25th March 2012, 23:42
Full article here: http://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-ambulances-stop-responding-calls-fuel-reserves-hit-zero/11096
First bit posted below:
“Sir, I just received a notification from the central area prison that there is prison inmate with kidney pain. What shall I do, should I head for the place?”
“No, please hold on until I make sure myself that the case is urgent.”
And so Sami Abu Shaira, in charge of the Deir al-Balah ambulance station in the central Gaza Strip, did not send an ambulance on the instructions of the headquarters of Gaza’s ambulance emergency service.
As a fuel shortage has worsened across the coastal territory, the ambulance service has been forced to stop responding to all calls except the most critical cases, Abu Shaira told The Electronic Intifada.
With fuel reserves at zero, medical officials are warning that in case of another large-scale military attack by Israel, the ambulance service would be unable to cope.
The fuel crisis claimed its first life this week, when a baby with a lymphatic disorder died because the generator that kept his respirator working ran out of fuel, the Associated Press and local media reported.
Most people in Gaza only have electricity for six hours per day. Gaza has suffered chronic electricity and fuel shortages due to Israel’s 2006 bombing of the territory’s only power generating plant (http://electronicintifada.net/content/latest-israeli-bombing-plunges-gaza-darkness/9137), exacerbated by the blockade which severely restricts fuel imports, as well as disputes between the Gaza and West Bank wings of the Palestinian Authority over payment.
The immediate cause of the current shortage, however, stems from a dispute between Egypt and Hamas authorities in Gaza over the delivery of fuel imports through Israel.
First bit posted below:
“Sir, I just received a notification from the central area prison that there is prison inmate with kidney pain. What shall I do, should I head for the place?”
“No, please hold on until I make sure myself that the case is urgent.”
And so Sami Abu Shaira, in charge of the Deir al-Balah ambulance station in the central Gaza Strip, did not send an ambulance on the instructions of the headquarters of Gaza’s ambulance emergency service.
As a fuel shortage has worsened across the coastal territory, the ambulance service has been forced to stop responding to all calls except the most critical cases, Abu Shaira told The Electronic Intifada.
With fuel reserves at zero, medical officials are warning that in case of another large-scale military attack by Israel, the ambulance service would be unable to cope.
The fuel crisis claimed its first life this week, when a baby with a lymphatic disorder died because the generator that kept his respirator working ran out of fuel, the Associated Press and local media reported.
Most people in Gaza only have electricity for six hours per day. Gaza has suffered chronic electricity and fuel shortages due to Israel’s 2006 bombing of the territory’s only power generating plant (http://electronicintifada.net/content/latest-israeli-bombing-plunges-gaza-darkness/9137), exacerbated by the blockade which severely restricts fuel imports, as well as disputes between the Gaza and West Bank wings of the Palestinian Authority over payment.
The immediate cause of the current shortage, however, stems from a dispute between Egypt and Hamas authorities in Gaza over the delivery of fuel imports through Israel.