Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital Enters 'Circle of the Impossible' After Generators Stop

Dr. Raed Hussein, director of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the Gaza Strip, issued a final warning about the imminent complete cessation of the hospital's operations due to a severe electricity supply crisis and the breakdown of all main and backup generators. Hussein confirmed that this crisis has begun to affect vital departments in the health institution, primarily the operating rooms, which are now unable to receive surgical cases.

During a press conference held today, Sunday, the hospital director revealed that four generators, which constituted the main backbone for power generation, have gone out of service during the past period, noting that the last generator the hospital relied on completely stopped yesterday. This dramatic development has led to a near-total paralysis of the essential services provided by the hospital to citizens and displaced persons in the central region.

Hussein explained that the hospital administration tried to manage the crisis over the past week by cutting power to some departments and distributing electrical loads to the remaining generators to ensure a minimum level of care. However, the breakdown of one of the remaining backup generators directly led to the cessation of operations in the operating rooms since yesterday evening, Saturday, putting the lives of the wounded and sick at risk.

According to the press statement, the hospital's main generators had been out of service since the first year of the war, with the medical facility relying on only three backup generators throughout the past months. With successive malfunctions, only two generators remained, rotating between morning and evening shifts, before the crisis escalated to its current collapse stage.

The hospital director pointed out that the institution was operating at only half its production capacity last year due to limited available electrical power. He warned that the continuation of the current situation necessarily means moving to a stage of shutting down intensive care units, dialysis units, and incubators for premature babies, which are departments where patients cannot survive without continuous electricity.

Hussein stressed that the hospital administration is 'sounding the alarm' as the crisis reaches unprecedented levels of danger, especially since Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is the only government facility still operating in the Central Governorate. The hospital provides medical services to more than half a million people, including original residents and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons who have sought refuge in the area.

Medical sources stated that the hospital has not been able to operate at full capacity for more than a year, but it has endured through makeshift solutions and load distribution. However, successive technical failures and the lack of necessary spare parts have left the health institution with only one option: forced closure if there is no urgent intervention from international bodies.

In the context of proposed solutions, Dr. Hussein called for the necessity of extending a direct electricity line to the hospital, emphasizing that this measure is technically possible, especially after electricity reached the desalination plant in Deir al-Balah city. He considered this solution to be the only one that guarantees the stability of the health system, away from recurring generator crises and fuel shortages.

He also issued an urgent appeal to international and humanitarian organizations to intervene immediately to provide new electrical generators capable of withstanding the hospital's enormous operational pressure. He explained that the actual needs exceed one megawatt of power, and the hospital urgently needs at least two large generators to ensure the uninterrupted provision of life-saving medical services.

Regarding the ability to endure, Hussein said that setting a time limit for continued operation has become impossible given the deterioration of current generators and the lack of essential oils and spare parts for maintenance. He added that local companies are no longer able to repair generators that have completely gone out of service, making the complete cessation of services something that could happen at any moment.

Regarding dealing with the influx of wounded, he confirmed that medical teams have been working in the 'circle of the impossible' for years, having been forced to cancel many services or transfer patients to other distant hospitals. He warned that the decline in the hospital's capacity would push patients to seek treatment in areas they might not reach alive due to ongoing field difficulties.

This collapse comes at a time when the Ministry of Health is suffering from a severe deficit, with the depletion rate of essential medicines reaching 47% and medical consumables 59%. The health sector in Gaza is experiencing a state of complete paralysis due to the direct targeting of infrastructure and fuel shortages, which has transformed hospitals into primitive medical centers lacking the most basic treatment requirements.

We have begun the countdown to the continuation of work inside the hospital, and I fear that we will hold another conference soon to announce the cessation of all services.