Gaza: Deliberate aid shortages by Israeli authorities are suffocating the Strip
Palestinians are constantly on the verge of losing access to essential medical care and clean water due to deliberate actions by Israeli authorities. This policy restricts the entry of medical supplies and fuel to the bare minimum and at their whim.
While this strategy creates the illusion of aid flowing into the Strip, it effectively prevents the humanitarian response from reaching even the minimum required for a population entirely reliant on assistance.
This comes as some MSF hospitals are treating a staggering increase in patients with gunshot wounds.
The Israeli authorities must end their collective punishment of the people in Gaza and immediately allow the consistent entry of sufficient medical supplies and fuel.
Over the past week we have seen large influxes of wounded patients, many of whom have suffered traumatic injuries.
At the Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) field hospital in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, the number of patients with gunshot wounds increased by 190 percent compared to the week before.
Clinics, such as Khan Younis clinic and Deir Al-Balah clinic, saw their highest weekly intake to date. Following three months of total blockade and despite Israel's claims to have opened supply corridors, MSF's supplies are running critically low due to continuing restrictions imposed on entering goods.
“We are missing everything, medical consumables like gauze, medications and food for our patients. This also includes therapeutic food for people with malnutrition, especially children,” says Katja Storck, nursing activity manager in Khan Younis.
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A critical lack of fuel
Along with crucial medical supplies, the dangerously low level of fuel is a big concern for people in Gaza as it powers the desalination plants where much of the clean water comes from. Palestinians across the Strip have already seen their access to water drop significantly. Without fuel, millions of people will be trapped with no safe drinking water.
Equally, fuel powers the entire healthcare system: medical equipment, air conditioning, elevators, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, and cold-chain storage for medicines and vaccines.
“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”
Even ambulances will be grounded, 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,” says Amy Low, 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.”
The weaponisation of aid must end
Yesterday, the UN managed to retrieve 280,000 litres of fuel from the stocks which are stuck in a no-go area in Rafah, after the Israeli authorities denied 12 previous requests.
As fuel stocks got so low, 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. The weaponisation of aid must end,” says Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza.
“No militarised 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.
MSF and the Israel - Gaza war
An unprecedented humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Gaza. MSF teams have worked to treat the wounded and supply overwhelmed hospitals as indiscriminate airstrikes and a state of siege threaten millions of men, women and children.