GAZA (Dispatches) – The Hamas movement issued a stark warning over the escalating spread of meningitis among children in the Gaza Strip, calling it the latest chapter in an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe fueled by the Zionist regime’s ongoing genocide and the complete collapse of the health system.
In a statement, the resistance movement said that hundreds of new meningitis cases have been reported in recent days, signaling an alarming public health crisis that threatens the lives of thousands of children already weakened by malnutrition, famine, and a lack of access to medical care, the Palestinian Information Center reported.
“The spread of meningitis among Gaza’s children is a harbinger of a new disaster,” the statement read. “This comes as famine deepens, baby formula becomes nearly impossible to find, and cases of malnutrition rise due to the suffocating siege and relentless attacks by the fascist occupation army,” it added.
Hamas called on the international community, the United Nations, and its agencies — particularly the World Health Organization (WHO) — to intervene immediately to protect Gaza’s children and end the deadly siege. The statement emphasized that supplying medical resources and child care necessities is not only a humanitarian duty but also a legal and moral obligation that can no longer be ignored.
Since October 7, 2023, Zionist troops— with unconditional support from the United States — have waged a war of genocide in Gaza that has killed or wounded over 190,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children. More than 11,000 remain missing, many buried under rubble.
Gaza’s health infrastructure has been systematically destroyed, leaving hospitals without electricity, equipment, or staff. The siege has also cut off access to clean water and food, triggering a famine that has claimed the lives of dozens of children and elderly people.
With more than two million Palestinians displaced and entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble, the Gaza Strip now faces one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history, according to rights groups and UN officials.
At least 350 kidney failure patients in Gaza face imminent death as the Strip’s largest medical complex announced a halt to dialysis sessions due to fuel shortages.
On Tuesday morning, the head of al-Shifa Complex in Gaza City announced that the dialysis ward would completely shut down by noon, as fuel needed to operate the generators had run out.
“This is happening for the first time since the beginning of the war on Gaza,” Dr Muhammad Abu Hassira, a specialist in internal medicine and nephrology at al-Shifa Medical Complex, told Middle East Eye.
“During the worst periods of the war, the dialysis unit was forced to suspend operations multiple times for several days due to Israeli raids on the hospital. Today, the hospital is still partially functioning, but we simply cannot run the dialysis machines because there is no fuel.”
Dr Abu Hassira confirmed that the dialysis ward had completely shut down earlier in the day, with the small amount of remaining fuel running a single generator reserved exclusively for the intensive care unit.