Palestinian organisations lay full responsibility on the Israeli occupation for the consequences of the Gaza blockade, specifically the power crisis that has been exacerbated following a breakdown in Gaza's main power station Tuesday after it ran out of sufficient fuel to operate.

The institutions called on the Palestinian Authority to bare its responsibility for ending the crisis, which has affected over 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza. They also called on Arab countries – especially Egypt – to intervene to resolve the crisis and extend electricity to Gaza.

During a sit-in it participated in, the Supreme Committee for Lifting the Siege on Gaza warned that a popular outburst could occur and lead to humanitarian disasters due to the lack of electricity. The sit-in included Palestinian professional syndicates and was staged in front of UN headquarters in Gaza City.

Mahmoud Abu Duf, head of the committee, said that "the power outage will dangerously affect all aspects of life, most significantly the health sector; there are thousands of patients on the verge of dying due to the outage."

Abu Duf clarified that current supply was only enough to operate hospitals and the health ministry and its facilities for three days, saying this amounted to a blatant violation of human rights.

The committee also implored the UN High Commissioner, the international community, the International Committee of the Red Cross and human rights organisations to do their duty and intervene.

Representative of the doctor's syndicate at the sit-in Abdel Moneim Labad said that "electricity is the working spine of the medical and health sector; cutting it means the death of tens of patients." He called on those responsible for the crisis to wake up before matters escalated, warning of street revolts against those causing their suffering and the continuation of the Gaza blockade.

Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights warned in a press statement against an imminent disaster if the problem was not addressed. The statement stressed that the power outage could have adverse effects on human rights and basic services for Gaza residents, most important of which are healthcare services, especially kidney dialyses, operations, intensive care units and blood banks.