TNA Staff
The New Arab / June 7, 2025
As Israel continues its brutal siege and war on the Gaza Strip, authorities warn that the fuel in the enclave will only last three more days.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has warned on Saturday that fuel supplies in hospitals will last only three more days, as health facilities across the territory face growing threats of collapse under Israel’s continued blockade and war.
Officials say the situation could trigger an “unpredictable humanitarian catastrophe”.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the ministry said: “The Israeli occupation is preventing international and UN organisations from accessing fuel storage sites designated for hospitals, under the pretext that they are located in red zones.”
It warned that “impeding fuel supplies to hospitals threatens to shut them down”, noting that hospitals “rely on electric generators to power critical units”.
The statement renewed calls for “all concerned parties to intervene to protect health institutions and to compel the occupation to allow the entry of medicines and other essential supplies needed to provide medical care”.
According to the ministry, only 19 out of Gaza’s original 38 hospitals are currently operational, and even those are functioning only partially. These include eight government hospitals and 11 private facilities. In addition, nine field hospitals are offering emergency services under what the ministry called “Israel’s ongoing campaign of extermination against Palestinians trapped in Gaza.”
The ministry also highlighted deliberate threats to the areas surrounding hospitals.
“The direct threats to residential areas surrounding hospitals are deliberate actions by the occupation as part of its systematic plan against the healthcare system,” it stated.
The comments come amid what the ministry described as the total breakdown of Gaza’s health sector, following 20 months of continuous attacks.
The situation is especially dire in the southern city of Khan Younis. The Ministry of Health confirmed that the Nasser Medical Complex is now “the only functioning hospital in the area”, following the shutdown of the European Gaza Hospital and restricted access to Al-Amal Hospital due to Israeli warnings and evacuation orders.
It warned that the loss of Nasser Medical Complex would result in “a humanitarian catastrophe no one can predict,” adding that such an outcome would mark “the total collapse of the health system in southern Gaza”.
Earlier on Saturday, the ministry reported that access to Al-Amal Hospital, which is operated by the Palestinian Red Crescent in Khan Younis, had become impossible after the Israeli military designated the surrounding area a “high-risk combat zone” and forcibly evacuated nearby residents.
“The hospital still shelters a number of patients and medical staff, who are facing serious risks under siege conditions and extremely complex security circumstances,” the ministry said.
It called on “all relevant institutions and authorities to intervene urgently to provide protection for hospitals and medical facilities”, and to ensure the opening of “a safe corridor allowing patients and the wounded to reach Al-Amal Hospital, while supplying it with essential medical provisions so that it can continue delivering healthcare in the area”.
The warnings come amid a broader escalation of the conflict in Gaza, which resumed in March following the collapse of a short-lived ceasefire.
The war, which began on 7 October 2023, has left Gaza’s infrastructure in ruins and its civilian population facing what health officials describe as an unprecedented crisis. Israel has killed at least 54,772 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are innocent civilians, with almost 126,000 people injured.
