Gaza hospitals face critical generator failures as fuel shortages worsen amid continued Israeli strikes

Gaza's healthcare system faces a critical energy crisis as severe shortages of engine oil and spare parts cause generators to fail at major facilities like Nasser Hospital. Despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in October 2025, Israeli restrictions on fuel and equipment imports persist, forcing hospitals to implement rotating power cuts. Meanwhile, military strikes continue, including a September 10, 2026 airstrike in Beit Lahiya that killed a family of four, highlighting the fragile state of the truce.

Gaza generator failures

• ▪The electrical system at Nasser Hospital has suffered repeated damage since an Israeli military raid in early 2024, which destroyed a solar energy system and two generators.
• ▪Shortages of engine oil and spare parts are causing generators to seize up at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, forcing the facility to implement rotating power cuts.
• ▪One of Nasser Hospital's four generators is out of service, and technicians have been forced to extend the generator oil change interval from 250 hours to 1,000 hours.

Hospital fuel shortages

• ▪Shortages of fuel and engine oil have forced Nasser Hospital to implement an austerity plan that rotates power cuts between buildings, leaving patients waiting for electricity.
• ▪Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières stated in August 2026 that restrictions on importing engine oil and spare parts undermine hospital generators, ambulances, and water trucks.
• ▪Dwindling supplies have forced humanitarian groups to buy engine oil on the local Gaza market, where prices surged to $1,300 per litre from $3 before the war.

Israeli fuel import restrictions

• ▪Israel's COGAT military agency stated that a coordinated mechanism facilitates the entry of monitored engine oil and hospital equipment to prevent advanced gear from reaching Hamas.
• ▪Israel has restricted the import of fuel and engine oil into Gaza since the start of its military offensive in response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks.

Beit Lahiya family airstrike

• ▪The Israeli military stated that the September 10, 2026 strike in Beit Lahiya targeted a military structure and killed Muamen Ahmed, whom they described as a combat operative.
• ▪An Israeli airstrike on September 10, 2026 killed a husband, his wife, and their two daughters, aged 8 and 12, in their home in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza.

October 2025 ceasefire violations

• ▪An October 2025 U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted full-scale fighting in Gaza but has failed to end Israeli airstrikes, secure Hamas' disarmament, or resolve the humanitarian crisis.
• ▪Hamas has accused Israel of violating the October 2025 ceasefire, while Israel has asserted that Hamas is the party violating the agreement.

Post-ceasefire casualty toll

• ▪More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military campaign since the outbreak of the war in 2023, according to Gaza health authorities.
• ▪More than 1,300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the October 2025 ceasefire took effect.