Gaza Hospital Crisis Worsens As Premature Babies Die Amid Power Cuts At Al-Shifa

Gaza City – The humanitarian emergency at Gaza’s largest hospital intensified this weekend following the deaths of two premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit after power was lost due to chronic fuel shortages.

Physicians for Human Rights Israel reported Saturday that the NICU at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City has been non-operational due to electricity cuts, jeopardizing the lives of 37 other premature babies requiring intensive medical care. The hospital campus, where thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from bombardments on the territory, has relied solely on unreliable backup generators to maintain essential services since fighting erupted over five weeks ago.

“As a result of the lack of electricity, we can report that the neonatal intensive care unit has stopped working. Two premature infants have died, and there is a real risk to the lives of 37 other premature infants at Al-Shifa hospital,” the Israeli doctors’ advocacy group said in a statement.

With no fuel entering Gaza for over a month of cross-border violence between Israel and Gaza militant groups, generators have failed, plunging the hospital into crisis. Heavy fighting around Al-Shifa in recent days has prevented supplies and evacuations.

“The picture we are now seeing at Shifa is no longer of a humanitarian catastrophe — it is a collective death sentence,” the doctors’ group warned.

The Israeli military has denied imposing a siege, but the deepening emergency spotlights the devastating toll on Gaza’s most vulnerable civilians, especially critically ill babies, amid the ongoing conflict. As generators stand idle from fuel deprivation, more young lives remain at risk.