People from all across Gaza have flocked to the Red Crescent hospital in Khan Younis to charge their phones, lights, and medical equipment more than a week after the single power station in the enclave ran out of fuel. It uses its power generators, as do all the other hospitals in the region.
Within days, incubators, dialysis machines, and other crucial medical equipment will go silent as hospital generators in Gaza run out of fuel and energy. Babies whose lives have just begun are among the most vulnerable, and they are likely to be among the critically ill patients who do not make it. It’s just as risky to try to relocate them. Patients, especially neonates, are especially vulnerable when water is scarce.
With Israel’s order to evacuate 23 hospitals in Gaza, medical staff are faced with a horrific dilemma: send nearly 2,000 patients on a journey that may be their last, or stay and continue treating patients despite the imminent threat of attack.
The president warned Americans that the threats and costs to America would only increase if terrorists and dictators weren’t stopped. He intended to ask Congress for tens of billions of dollars in aid for Israel and Ukraine.
In a prime-time address on Thursday, President Biden pleaded with the American people to support Israel and Ukraine, calling the United States a “beacon to the world” whose leadership is necessary to stop the death and damage being caused by the enemies of freedom.
In the Oval Office, Biden argued that providing military and economic aid to Israel and Ukraine was in the interest of global stability and U.S. national security after he returned from a one-day visit to Israel following the Hamas terrorist strikes on October 7.
Egypt has not yet let aid or evacuation from Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
Diplomats with insider knowledge of the backchannel talks are gloomy about its launching on Friday since Egypt and Israel still differ on crucial points– like how to establish a regular timetable of assistance convoys, whether to allow in gasoline, and how to screen the convoys for armaments.
