The Only Power Plant In Gaza Stops Working, Hospitals Are Threatened With Running Out Of Generator Fuel Tomorrow

Ambulance at Al-Shifa Medical Complex, Gaza, Palestine. (Wikimedia Commons/Basel Yazouri)

JAKARTA - Hospitals and basic services in the Gaza region, Palestine are in danger of malfunctioning due to running out of fuel for generators, as power plants there stop functioning, while the blockade blocks supply.

Gaza's chief electricity authority Galal Ismail said on Wednesday that the only power plant in Gaza had stopped functioning after running out of fuel.

"The current gaza is without electricity," Ismail told CNN as quoted October 11.

People in Gaza can still use an electric generator to generate electricity, said Ismail. However, with the blockade on all sides of the border, the fuel needed so that the generator can function is running low.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said the fuel used to operate generators in city hospitals would run out on Our Day, warning the absence of electricity supply could cause disasters.

"All basic services in Gaza depend on electricity, and it is impossible to operate some of these services with generators due to fuel supply prevention through the Rafah gates," the state media office said in a statement.

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday ordered a total siege of Gaza, saying it would halt supply of electricity, food, water and fuel after the Hamas attack.

With the deteriorating conditions amid Israeli airstrikes, a humanitarian crisis has begun. The situation in Gaza was "very terrible before this hostilities," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday, and "now his condition will only worsen exponentially."