Israel blockade leaves 70% of Gaza hospital generators out of service: Health ministry

The Gaza-based Health Ministry says around 70 percent of electricity generators serving hospitals across the besieged territory have gone out of service, warning that critical medical departments could stop functioning “at any moment” amid Israel’s ongoing blockade.

The Health Ministry said on Wednesday that severe shortages of fuel, engine oil and spare parts had forced around 70 percent of hospital generators across Gaza out of service, as Israel continues to enforce its inhumane blockade of the territory.

Zaher al-Wahidi, director of the Health Ministry's Information Center, warned that the remaining generators could no longer guarantee electricity for vital hospital departments, leaving life-saving medical services at risk of shutting down “at any moment.”

“The healthcare system in the Gaza Strip is being driven towards a mass and systematic execution, moving beyond the bounds of a humanitarian catastrophe into a fully fledged crime of health genocide,” he stated.

Generators have become the principal source of electricity for Gaza’s hospitals since Israel cut off the electricity supply to the territory and largely destroyed its power grid as part of the occupying regime’s genocidal war, which began in October 2023.

Israeli strike kills two in Gaza as hospitals face energy shortages

An Israeli strike has killed two more people in the Gaza Strip as hospitals across the coastal territory struggle with a severe energy shortage.

Al-Wahidi dismissed Israeli claims that medical and logistical supplies were being allowed into Gaza, describing them as a “farce and blatant attempt to whitewash genocide and conceal the ethnic-cleansing war in the Gaza Strip.”

He said the limited supplies reaching the territory “represent only a very small amount” of what hospitals need and are insufficient even to meet their most basic operational requirements.

The severe fuel shortage has also prevented hundreds of healthcare workers from reaching their workplaces, further isolating medical facilities and severely hampering their ability to respond to emergencies, he said.

Al-Wahidi said public transportation companies and bus operators had announced a complete or near-total suspension of services on Wednesday, further restricting the movement of healthcare workers.

“Health facilities have turned into isolated structures slowly dying amid the continued comprehensive blockade and the prevention of essential necessities of life from entering [the strip],” he added.

He further warned that Gaza is facing an “unprecedented shortage” of medicines and medical supplies, while diagnostic equipment is becoming increasingly unavailable.

Al-Wahidi called on the international community, the UN Security Council, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to take “immediate and urgent action” to ensure the entry of medical supplies, fuel and other essential operational materials into Gaza.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, Israel’s genocidal war has killed nearly 74,000 Palestinians and injured more than 174,000 others.

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