The last functioning hospitals in Gaza may soon be out of service, the health ministry warns.

The few overwhelmed hospitals still functioning across the Gaza Strip could be completely out of service if diesel generators needed to keep lights on and to run lifesaving medical equipment are not replaced or maintained soon, the Gaza Health Ministry warned on Saturday.

The ministry said it expected a number of generators at the hospitals to fail soon because Israel, as part of its siege of the territory, was preventing the entry of necessary spare parts.

“This means certain death for the sick and injured and the complete end of the health service,” the ministry said in a statement.

One of the main generators at Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gazan city of Deir al Balah recently broke down, leaving the medical facility with only one still functioning.

That hospital has been overwhelmed with victims of Israeli airstrikes as central Gaza has come under sustained bombardment in recent days, killing dozens of civilians and wounding many more, according to the ministry and Palestinian news media.

On Saturday, large numbers of wounded — including many children — were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital, which is not only operating with a sole generator but is also facing a severe shortage of medicine and equipment, a health ministry spokesman said.