Hamas says key hospital in northern Gaza out of power

The power generator of the northern Gaza Strip’s key hospital went out of service early this morning, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry says.

The Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia is near the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp, which has been the target of heavy Israeli airstrikes this week.

Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qudra says in a televised statement that the hospital is running on a smaller backup generator but had to turn off lights in most rooms, shut down oxygen generators and resort to oxygen cylinders, and turn off mortuary refrigerators.

“These exceptional measures will allow the Indonesian Hospital to work for a matter of days,” Al-Qudra says. “However, if we cannot secure electricity or fuel then we will face a disaster.”

Gaza health officials have been warning that hospitals were in imminent danger of closing since the first days of the war.

The IDF yesterday released a recording of an intelligence intercept of a conversation in which a Hamas commander repeatedly alludes to Hamas taking fuel from the hospital’s stocks.

תמונות מהפעילות הקרקעית של כוחות צה"ל ברצועת עזה: pic.twitter.com/pic4OosOsF

— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) November 2, 2023

While some aid trucks have entered the blockaded Gaza Strip since the war began last month, Israel has not allowed trucks to bring fuel, which Hamas needs to run the ventilation and electricity in its vast tunnel network.

Israel says that Hamas has hundreds of thousands of liters of fuel that it could supply to hospitals and other civilians.