As Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has seen large influxes of wounded Palestinians over the last week—many of whom have suffered traumatic injuries from the war—Israeli authorities continue to restrict the entry of medical supplies and fuel to the bare minimum.
While authorities have recently created the illusion of aid flowing into the Strip, the minuscule amount getting in is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of a population entirely reliant on assistance. Israeli authorities must end their collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza and immediately allow the consistent entry of sufficient medical supplies and fuel.
Medical supplies continue to run low
At MSF’s field hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, the number of patients with gunshot wounds increased in the last week by 190 percent compared to the week before. Clinics, such as MSF’s Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah clinics, saw their highest weekly intake to date. Despite Israel's claims to have opened supply corridors, MSF's supplies are running critically low due to continuing restrictions imposed on entering goods. This follows more than three months of total blockade.
“We are missing everything—medical consumables like gauze, medications, and food for our patients,” said Katja Storck, nursing activity manager in Khan Younis. “This also includes therapeutic food for people with malnutrition, particularly children.”
Fuel shortage jeopardizes health care
As crucial medical supplies run low, so does the stock of fuel—which is a major concern for people in Gaza as fuel is needed to power the desalination plants where much of the available clean water comes from. Palestinians across the Strip have already been experiencing a dire water shortage; without fuel, millions of people will be trapped with even less access to safe drinking water.
Fuel also powers the entire health care system: it’s used for medical equipment, air conditioning, elevators, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, and cold-chain storage for medicines and vaccines. Even ambulances will cease to operate if fuel runs out, preventing the transport of critically ill and wounded people.
“Newborns in neonatal intensive care units are often too small to breathe on their own—they need ventilators and oxygen to survive,” said Amy Low, MSF medical team leader in Gaza City. “But recently, lack of fuel has caused electricity at Al-Helou Maternity Hospital in northern Gaza to cut out several times, shutting off ventilators and oxygen and putting babies’ lives at immediate risk.”
A charade of humanitarian aid
On June 18, the UN managed to retrieve 280,000 liters of fuel from stocks stuck in a no-go area in Rafah, after Israeli authorities denied 12 previous requests. Before that, as fuel stocks diminished, the teams at Al-Helou—where MSF teams work in the maternity ward—had to temporarily shut down elevators in the hospital to ration stocks.
“The charade of only allowing medical and fuel supplies at the very last-minute ahead of a looming disaster is nothing but a Band-Aid on a gushing wound,” said Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza. “The weaponization of aid must end. No militarized scheme developed by a warring party, like the one we are witnessing with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, can replace the work of independent humanitarian agencies.”
MSF teams are witnessing patterns consistent with genocide in Gaza. Mass killings, the destruction of vital civilian infrastructure, and severe restrictions on fuel supplies and the delivery of aid are deliberate actions. Israel is systematically dismantling the conditions necessary for Palestinian life.
