The dialysis department of Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital has been forced to stop its services to critical patients due to lack of fuel as a result of Israel’s blockade.

Emad Qasem, a kidney patient at the hospital, said he went to the hospital today for a routine dialysis, only to find the entire wing shut down.

“This is a life-threatening situation for kidney failure patients like us. Missing even one scheduled dialysis session puts our lives at immediate risk. Right now, I am in severe pain, and there is nowhere else to turn. This crisis is yet another catastrophe for those of us with kidney disease,” he told Al Jazeera.

He said there is no other medical centre in Gaza that can provide dialysis treatment.

Basheer al-Dalou, another patient, said he had to walk almost an hour to reach the hospital, arriving utterly exhausted.

“I have accumulated an extra five kilogrammes of fluid that urgently needs to be removed today. Learning that the machines have stopped working was a complete shock. If I have to go home without this treatment, these excess fluids will poison my body and I could die.”