Fri Dec 26 16:14:44 UTC 2025: Here’s a summary and a news article based on the provided text:

Summary:

Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza has suspended several critical services due to severe fuel shortages, exacerbating the already dire humanitarian crisis in the region. Essential departments like the emergency unit, maternity ward, and pediatrics remain operational but are stretched thin. The hospital, normally serving a large patient population, is struggling to maintain basic services with limited fuel, impacting patients who are unable to receive needed treatment. Aid delivery to Gaza is insufficient despite a truce, leaving most residents dependent on limited assistance for survival. Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure has been significantly damaged during the conflict, leaving international organizations to fill the gaps.

News Article:

Gaza Hospital Halts Services Amid Critical Fuel Shortage, Deepening Humanitarian Crisis

Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip – December 26, 2025 – Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza’s Nuseirat district has been forced to suspend numerous vital services due to a critical fuel shortage, officials announced Friday. This development further compounds the already catastrophic humanitarian crisis gripping the war-torn Palestinian territory.

Serving approximately 60 inpatients and nearly 1,000 daily outpatients, the hospital now struggles to provide even basic care. Ahmed Mehanna, a senior hospital official, stated that only the emergency unit, maternity ward, and pediatrics department remain operational due to the lack of fuel needed to power generators. The hospital is forced to rent a small generator to maintain those core services.

“This shutdown is temporary and linked to the availability of fuel,” Mehanna warned, stressing that prolonged fuel shortages would directly threaten the hospital’s ability to provide essential services to the population.

Patients like Khitam Ayada, 30, who sought treatment for kidney pain, are turned away due to the power outage. “They told me they didn’t have electricity to perform an X-ray and that they couldn’t treat me,” Ayada said, highlighting the desperate situation.

Despite a truce in effect since October 10, aid delivery to Gaza remains severely limited. The United Nations reports that while the ceasefire agreement stipulated the entry of 600 aid trucks per day, only 100 to 300 trucks, often carrying commercial goods inaccessible to most residents, have been able to enter.

The war, triggered by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, has decimated Gaza’s healthcare system. International medical organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders, are now managing a significant portion of the region’s hospital beds. The United Nations considers the death toll of over 70,942, mostly civilians, reported by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry to be reliable.

Hospital officials are pleading for immediate intervention from local and international organizations to secure a steady fuel supply and prevent a total collapse of essential medical services. The crisis at Al-Awda Hospital underscores the urgent need for increased humanitarian aid to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents.

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