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Electricity cuts push Gaza's hospitals to brink

As part of its offensive, Israel has bombed the Gaza Strip’s electrical infrastructure, resulting in power outages up to 21 hours a day.
A Palestinian medic gestures at Al-Aqsa hospital, which witnesses said was damaged in an Israeli shelling on Monday, in Deir El-Balah in the central Gaza Strip July 22, 2014. Israel pounded targets across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, dashing hopes of a pause in the fighting, as the military said one of its soldiers was missing, presumed dead, following clashes with Hamas Islamists. Israel launched its offensive on July 8 to halt missile fire out of Gaza by Hamas, which was angered by a crackdown on its suppor
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Gaza’s electricity cuts have increased to more than 21 hours a day since Israel destroyed most of the electrical transformers on July 17 — the day it announced the beginning of its ground offensive into the Gaza Strip. The power outages constitute an additional danger to locals, particularly in the health sector while hospitals work overtime to keep up with the high number of casualties from Israel’s continued bombardment.

Bassam al-Hamadin, the general manager of engineering and maintenance at the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said that the power outage in the Gaza Strip has been continuing for nearly five days. Government electricity supply has been cut off for a number of hospitals.

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