February 25, 2024

Dying for Fuel: The Siege-Induced Catastrophe in Gaza’s Hospitals

The siege-induced catastrophe in Gaza’s hospitals has reached its latest lethal stage, as nearly all hospitals that are still partially operating report to the Gaza Health Ministry that they are doing so with 0% fuel

The Gaza Health Ministry’s assessment is “catastrophic and indescribable.” In north Gaza, where starvation is widespread, fuel has been impossible to find in recent weeks. As hospital facilities have run out of the reserves they were rationing for months, the devastating effects of the siege take full force: dialysis patients say their last goodbyes to family members as their machines cease to operate and doctors inform families with severely injured members that they cannot operate or must do so without anesthesia.

Medicinal refrigerators at nearly all hospitals in Gaza are without electricity, as those lifesaving drugs that remain stocked in limited quantities risk becoming spoiled and unusable in the hours and days to come unless fuel is let in. Many hospitals have seen patients arriving on foot to the perimeter, a deadly risk given aerial bombardment around the hospital complexes, but it is clear why they risk it: ambulances and medical service vehicles can’t get them there, again, because there is no fuel to transport even the most gravely injured. Those who fear attempting a journey to the hospital end up waiting days or weeks to seek treatment or diagnosis, multiplying the risk of complications.

This is a human-made nightmare, and ending it requires one thing and one thing only: lifting the siege on Gaza by ending Western complicity with Zionism. The collective punishment of the Palestinian people for resisting our extermination by the Zionist regime must end once and for all. Gaza must live. LIFT THE SIEGE NOW!