Doctors in Gaza say they were forced to cram multiple babies into one incubator as hospitals warned that fuel shortages are forcing them to shut off vital services, putting patients’ lives at risk.
The UN has warned that the fuel crisis is at a critical point, with the little supplies that are available running short and “virtually no additional accessible stocks left.”
“Hospitals are rationing. Ambulances are stalling. Water systems are on the brink. And the deaths this is likely causing could soon rise sharply unless the Israeli authorities allow new fuel in – urgently, regularly and in sufficient quantities,” the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
An 11-week Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid earlier in the year pushed the enclave’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians towards famine and into a deepening humanitarian crisis. Limited aid deliveries resumed into the besieged enclave in May but aid groups have said it is not nearly enough to meet the scale of the needs.
CNN has approached COGAT, the Israeli agency in charge of coordinating aid deliveries into Gaza, for comment about the fuel shortages.