Al-Azhar warns Gaza hospitals risk becoming mass graves as fuel supplies run low

Al-Azhar, Egypt’s top Islamic authority, warned on Wednesday that dwindling supplies needed to operate electricity generators in Gaza Strip hospitals could put the lives of patients, wounded people and children at risk.

It described hospitals being turned into mass graves as “a stain on humanity’s conscience” and called for urgent international action.

In a statement, Al-Azhar said depriving medical facilities of electricity amounted to “a mass death sentence for innocent people and a fully-fledged war crime that violates all international laws and norms”.

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It urged the international community to act swiftly to allow aid into Gaza, open humanitarian corridors and end the blockade, which it said was worsening the health crisis in the territory.

Al-Azhar warned of an imminent humanitarian catastrophe, saying hundreds of patients, wounded people and children in intensive care units and neonatal incubators face certain death.

It also expressed concern over Palestinian warnings that the supplies of oil and fuel needed to run hospital generators were close to exhaustion, potentially disrupting medical services, particularly in intensive care units and neonatal wards.

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