One of northern Gaza's main hospitals has been plunged into darkness due to fuel shortages, pushing the enclave's devastated health system closer to total collapse amid Israel's continued siege and relentless bombardments.
Ismail al-Thawabta, head of the Gaza government’s media office, said late on Tuesday that power was cut off in sections of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, warning of dire consequences for patients as fuel supplies run out.
"[This] reveals the extent of the health catastrophe exacerbated by the siege imposed by the Israeli occupation, and the complete blockade of medical supplies," Thawabta told Anadolu Agency.
Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in the Palestinian territory, was badly damaged in an Israeli military operation late last year. It is one of only five government hospitals still partially operating, with 38 others, including private and field hospitals, shut down due to repeated Israeli attacks.
The kidney disease department at Al-Shifa had already ceased operations because of the fuel shortage.
Thawabta said hospitals are now relying on the last remaining fuel deliveries from two days ago, which will last less than 48 hours. On Monday, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah ceased operations after running out of fuel, resulting in the shutdown of its main generator.
He warned that Gaza's entire health system has reached "catastrophic levels of incapacity" and was in urgent need of hundreds of essential medical supplies, medicines, and treatments.
The crisis unfolds as ceasefire talks remain stalled.
On Tuesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met US President Donald Trump in Washington for 90 minutes in an unplanned meeting focused on securing a truce and hostage deal in Gaza. Trump later said, "we have to get this solved", during a cabinet meeting.
US envoy Steve Witkoff said after the talks that Israel and Hamas had resolved three out of four remaining issues in ongoing "proximity talks" in Doha, but a key point of contention remains the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Sources cited by Axios said Hamas wants the Israeli army to pull back to the lines held before the previous ceasefire collapsed in March, a demand Israel has so far refused. Talks also included discussion of Gaza redeployment maps.
One breakthrough involved aid, with humanitarian deliveries in areas vacated by Israeli forces to be managed by the UN or neutral international organisations, and not groups affiliated with Israel or Hamas, something that could force the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to scale back operations.
Another resolved issue involves Hamas's demand for US assurances that Israel won't resume military operations unilaterally once the 60-day truce ends.
Witkoff reportedly conveyed to Hamas, through a backchannel, that Trump was committed to extending the ceasefire if negotiations toward ending the war continued.
Still, the toll on Gaza’s civilian population continues to mount.
At least 26 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the territory early Wednesday, including children.
Ten members of one family, five of them children, were killed in Gaza City's Shati (Beach) refugee camp when their home was bombed.
Another 10 were killed in a strike on an encampment in Khan Younis, in the south.
More deaths were reported in Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah, and the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps.
The war, which began on 7 October, has killed nearly 57,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.