January 2025- Hospitals in Gaza, including Nasser Hospital, Al-Aqsa Hospital, and the European Gaza Hospital, are on the brink of closure due to severe fuel shortages, threatening the lives of hundreds of patients, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned. The critical situation places vulnerable individuals, including newborns reliant on electricity for survival, at significant risk.
In response, MSF teams have begun transferring fuel to Nasser and Al-Aqsa hospitals. However, this measure provides only a temporary solution, expected to last between 36 and 48 hours.
According to MSF, electricity at Nasser Hospital, which it supports, may be cut off in some departments as early as January 8, potentially leaving patients without vital care. The hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit currently treats three children and four newborns on mechanical ventilation, along with 15 newborns in incubators, all dependent on generator-powered electricity.
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MSF has described the situation as catastrophic, warning of serious and potentially tragic consequences if conditions do not improve. The organization has called on all parties to facilitate the entry of fuel into Gaza and ensure its safe delivery to healthcare facilities. It has also urged an end to the Israeli blockade, which MSF claims is dismantling Gaza’s healthcare system and endangering lives.
“Without fuel, these newborns are at risk of losing their lives,” says Pascale Coissard, MSF emergency coordinator. “The babies in incubators rely on constant electricity for the ventilators that are keeping them alive.”
“They are already in an extremely vulnerable state, and any transfer to other hospitals would directly endanger their lives,” continues Coissard. “Putting the lives of children at risk like this is unacceptable and is a consequence of Israel’s ongoing blockade and continuous criminal looting of lifesaving supplies.”
“It’s an impossible situation, because even if we prioritise the little fuel that is left to the most urgent departments, we know that they won’t last more than 36 to 48 hours”, says Julie Faucon, MSF medical team leader in Gaza. “While some patients are hanging on by a thread, the lack of sustained electricity is impacting the level of care we can provide to those with burns and trauma.”
In December 2024, an average of only 59 trucks per day holding vital supplies were able to enter Gaza, compared to 500 trucks entering per day prior to 7 October 2023, according to the United Nations. MSF and other organisations have been warning for over a year that the woefully inadequate supply of aid is threatening the lives of people in Gaza.
