Inside the corridors of Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, doctors and nurses anxiously monitor oxygen levels and ventilators as a worsening crisis threatens to cut oxygen supplies to one of Gaza’s largest functioning hospitals.
In the neonatal unit, premature babies lie in glass incubators connected to oxygen tubes that help them breathe, while their mothers watch the machines in fear that supplies could be cut off.
In intensive care units, patients depend on ventilators to stay alive as alarms repeatedly sound because of low oxygen pressure. Medical teams are trying to prevent any possible interruption.
Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza has two oxygen-generating stations.
“The main station recently went out of service because of technical failures and a lack of operating oils, while the backup station is working at limited capacity and could stop at any time,” Ismail Abu Nimr, director of engineering and maintenance at the complex, told Anadolu.
Dozens of empty oxygen cylinders line up in the hospital courtyard, waiting to be refilled, reflecting the scale of the crisis as fears grow that the hospital could become unable to meet the needs of its critical departments.
The Health Ministry in Gaza has repeatedly warned of the dangers of Israel preventing the entry of medicines, medical supplies, equipment and related materials, saying the restrictions have catastrophic consequences for health services and patients’ lives.
Official Palestinian reports have also warned of the risks of Israel blocking the entry of spare parts needed to maintain equipment, machinery and vehicles that provide vital services to Gaza residents.
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Ahmad al-Farra, director of the Children and Maternity Department at Nasser Medical Complex, said the hospital is experiencing “slow suffocation,” warning that the continued oxygen crisis threatens the lives of hundreds of patients, especially premature babies and intensive care patients.
“Oxygen is the lifeline inside hospitals, especially for babies in incubators, intensive care patients and operating rooms. These patients depend on it completely,” Farra told Anadolu.
He warned that the shutdown of oxygen stations would mean “a real catastrophe and a death sentence for hundreds of patients,” urging the international community to intervene before the service collapses completely.
Abu Nimr said the hospital depends on oxygen stations to supply patients inside its departments and to provide medical cylinders for field hospitals and other health facilities.
He said the main oxygen production station went out of service because parts wore out and the operating oils ran out, without specifying when it stopped operating.
“The second station inside the complex is still running, but at limited capacity and faces the risk of stopping at any time,” Abu Nimr warned.
He said Nasser Medical Complex, like other hospitals in Gaza, has struggled for years to bring in the spare parts and oils needed to maintain the stations, forcing technical teams to use local substitutes “that do not meet specifications.”
Those substitutes caused additional malfunctions and damaged pumps, he said, adding that technical teams are working with limited resources to keep the service running.
