Health crisis looms over Gaza as fuel shortages endanger hospitals

Living conditions in the Gaza Strip have been deteriorating amidst a recent surge in large-scale conflict. Nearly half of the 35 hospitals in the region have ceased operations due to bombardment and acute fuel shortage, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

In an update by Medical Aid for Palestinians on November 3, Dr. Marwan Abusada, chief of surgery at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, described the situation in hospitals as “beyond catastrophic.”

The corridors are full of injured people and the emergency rooms are beyond full. The hospitals have zero capacity to treat all the injured people, he said, adding that there is a high chance of infectious diseases spreading between patients and those displaced.

Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa Hospital, has ceased operations of its main generator. It now precariously depends on a backup generator, which, if depleted, could result in numerous deaths in neonatal and adult intensive care units (ICUs), as well as during surgical procedures.

Similarly, northern Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital has been forced to shut down its main generator and is currently relying on a smaller backup generator to keep its ICU running.

Earlier, the Gaza Strip’s only cancer treatment hospital, the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, was closed due to continuous Israeli airstrikes and fuel depletion.

Aggravating situation

Israel has tightened its blockade on Gaza, restricting the flow of power, fuel and essential supplies following an early October attack by Hamas across the border.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said he was shocked by the desperate requests from refugees for basic sustenance.

“We saw almost every children trying to express their will that they need to eat, to have water. I never ever have seen something similar in Gaza when I came before after conflict.”

The current crisis has forced at least 670,000 people to seek shelter in UNRWA facilities, including schools, medical centers and warehouses. The agency, operating on limited fuel supplies, is rationing its resources and urgently calls for a humanitarian intervention and a ceasefire to alleviate the grave conditions.

“Water is being used as a weapon of war. Many people are resorting to unsafe sources of water … Clean water in Gaza is either unavailable or available in very, very small quantities,” said UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, stated on November 2 that measures to ease the blockade were being considered to permit the delivery of fuel for hospitals in Gaza under supervision to ensure that it does not serve Hamas’ military objectives. Later on that day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that Israel had not reached a decision on this matter, Anadolu Agency reported.

Israeli strikes have resulted in 9,060 fatalities, including 3,760 children, and have disabled several hospitals, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis as the ground offensive escalates, according to Palestinian health officials.

Civilians, urged by Israeli authorities to evacuate the northern regions of Gaza but also facing bombardments in the south, are encountering increasingly harsh conditions. This comes in spite of aid deliveries beginning to trickle in through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt last week.

On November 2, the Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that 102 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid made their way into Gaza via the Rafah border crossing. Despite the arrival of 374 trucks to date, the shipments have notably lacked fuel, a critical resource for the continued operation of Gaza’s medical facilities.

Experts warned that health risks for civilians are escalating due to hospital shutdowns and the cessation of public services. Christina Bouri, a research associate for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, emphasizes that Gaza’s healthcare system is on the brink of collapse due to shortages of electricity, fuel and medical supplies.

Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world with a large young refugee population, is suffering from high poverty and unemployment rates, which are expected to rise further as Israeli military actions continue to destroy homes and neighborhoods, according to Bouri.