WASHINGTON, October 24. /TASS/. Fuel reserves at one of the hospitals in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, will expire in 72 hours, Marwan el-Sultan, the medical facility’s director told the Washington Post newspaper.

He said the building had suffered a complete power outage for a short period of time on Monday night. Although the malfunction was fixed within ten minutes, Sultan acknowledged that the main problem remained unresolved. According to him, repairs won’t "solve the real problem," which is that they "don't have enough fuel." "There is a lack of everything we need. <…> We have never seen this before," he added.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said that many medical facilities in the enclave were nearing collapse, operating at more than 150% of capacity. According to the ministry, 10 out of 35 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are currently not functioning.

Mark Regev, senior advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told CNN earlier on Monday that Tel Aviv would not allow fuel to enter the Gaza Strip because, "it will be stolen by Hamas and it’ll be used by them to power rockets that are fired into Israel to kill our people." According to him, this has happened before.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.