Electricity was completely cut off at Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Thursday evening after fuel supplies needed to operate its generators were exhausted, hospital officials said, amid ongoing Israeli restrictions on the entry of essential supplies despite a declared ceasefire.

Medical sources at the hospital confirmed that all generators shut down once the last remaining fuel ran out, plunging the facility into a total power outage. Only a handful of critical services remain partially functional through limited backup batteries, while the number of patients and emergency cases continues to rise.

Hospital administrators warned that the blackout poses an immediate and grave threat to patients’ lives, particularly those in intensive care units, neonatal and pediatric wards, and operating rooms, where life-saving equipment depends entirely on electricity.

“The situation is extremely dangerous,” medical staff said, noting that without fuel, ventilators, monitoring devices, and surgical equipment cannot function, placing critically ill and wounded patients at risk of death.

Al-Awda Hospital has issued an urgent appeal to international organizations, the United Nations, and humanitarian agencies, calling for immediate intervention to pressure Israel to allow the entry of fuel required to keep generators running.

Health officials in Gaza say the crisis at Al-Awda reflects a broader collapse of the healthcare system across the Strip, where hospitals are struggling to operate under siege conditions, severe fuel shortages, and continuous strain from mass casualties.

Despite provisions in the ceasefire agreement allowing for the entry of humanitarian and medical supplies, Palestinian health authorities report that fuel deliveries remain severely restricted, pushing hospitals closer to total shutdown and deepening the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. (ILKHA)