Gaza hospital on verge of closure due to fuel shortfall

The Abu Yusuf al-Najjar Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip will cease functioning within nine days due to a lack of fuel needed for its electricity generators, Gaza's Health Ministry has warned.

In a Wednesday statement, the ministry said that if health services are halted at the hospital (located in Gaza's southern city of Rafah), as many as 250,000 people could be affected.

Roughly 400 patients frequently visit the hospital to receive vital medical treatment, including kidney dialysis, the ministry said.

In recent weeks, the ministry has repeatedly warned of the impending collapse of Gaza's local health sector due to a chronic shortage of fuel needed to keep hospitals' emergency generators up and running.

Home to some two million people, the Gaza Strip has a total of 13 government-run hospitals and 54 primary healthcare centers, which together account for roughly 95 percent of all health services in the coastal enclave.

Gaza, which continues to groan under an 11-year Israeli blockade, has struggled with acute electricity shortfalls since 2006.