Gaza hospitals declare emergency due to power cutoff

Power plant had been closed down due to a shortage of industrial diesel fuel.

Gaza: Gaza Strip`s hospitals declared a status of emergency after the region`s main power plant was shut down prompting a severe electricity crisis.

Mo`aweya Hassanein, Gaza emergency chief, said the shutdown had hit children`s hospitals, maternity department, kidney departments, babies nursery and intensive care units.

Increasing the hours of power cutoff from eight hours to 12 hours per day in the Gaza Strip "would lead to a humanitarian crisis and a deterioration of medical services", he said.
The plant had been closed down on Saturday night due to a shortage of industrial diesel fuel, shutting down the electricity supply to more than 700,000 people, Kan`an Obied, the chairman of the Hamas-run energy authority, confirmed.

IANS