JERUSALEM, September 27, 2018 (WAFA) - The latest figures provided by the Ministry of Health (MoH) indicate that during the demonstrations between 10th and 22nd September, 10 Palestinians including four children were killed and 1,193 were injured by the Israeli forces, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a special situation report on Gaza published on Thursday. Most of the killings and injuries occurred during protests as part of the March of Return on the Gaza border with Israel.

Out of the total 1,193 injured, 690 patients required transfer to the MoH hospitals or NGO clinics, including 127 children and 37 females. Of the hospitalized injured, 19 cases were critically life threatening, 275 moderate, 386 mild, and the remaining 10 were unspecified cases.

The report said that Gaza‘s 14 public hospitals rely on donated fuel to run generators during the electricity black-outs, which continue to last up to 18-20 hours per day. The last batch of UN donated fuel has been distributed during August 2018. The local authorities have since procured 120,000 liters and a charity organization (Human Appeal International) has provided 10,500 liters to sustain services at public hospitals throughout the month of September.

Nevertheless, hospitals are rationalizing the use of the remaining fuel reserves by suspending sterilization, laundry, cleaning, catering and selected diagnostic services during electricity cuts.

On 17 September the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC), announced the release of $1 million from the humanitarian fund for fuel procurement. This support will ensure uninterrupted electricity supply for up to 250 critical health and water and sanitation facilities for a period of up to 6-7 weeks.

In August 2018, the Central Drug Store of the MoH in Gaza reported 47% of essential drugs at less than one month‘s supply and 40% completely depleted and 30% of essential disposables were at less than one month‘s supply, said WHO.

M.K.