Severe shortages of operational supplies threaten the continued treatment of hundreds of patients in hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including older people and the wounded, amid scarce fuel, generator oil, spare parts, medicines and medical supplies. This is placing additional pressure on a health system operating with limited capacity.
Generators threaten emergency and intensive care departments
The crisis is not limited to shortages of medicines. Hospitals rely on electricity generators to operate vital departments and medical equipment, while facing difficulties securing the fuel, oil and spare parts needed to keep them running. Any failure of these generators threatens services in emergency, intensive care, surgery and kidney dialysis departments, as well as other life-saving services.
Mazen al-Araishi, director general of engineering and maintenance at the Ministry of Health, warned on 13 September 2026 that the shortage of electric generator oil in hospitals was worsening, stressing that the crisis was making it more difficult to keep them running to meet daily electricity needs.
Al-Araishi said the limited quantities of oil allowed into Gaza during the previous period had served as emergency supplies and did not meet operational requirements or technical follow-up procedures. He added that a number of hospital generators urgently needed their oil changed, warning that delays exposed them to technical and mechanical failures that could cause them to stop working.
Al-Araishi put the monthly oil requirement for hospital generators at about 2,500 litres, noting that several had already stopped working in the days before his statement because oil, spare parts and sufficient quantities of fuel were unavailable.
He said the remaining generators were operating around the clock in difficult technical and mechanical conditions and could not meet the needs of all vital and life-saving departments. The Ministry of Health official called on the relevant authorities and international organisations to intervene urgently to bring in generator oil and the required spare parts, ensuring that the generators continue operating and preserving health services for patients.
United Nations records restrictions disrupting the health response
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report issued on 21 September that restrictions on the entry of essential supplies and equipment, together with a lack of funding, were placing Gaza’s fragile health response at increasing risk of disruption.
The office said shortages of engine oil, tyres and spare parts for vehicles used by United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations, including ambulances, had led to the suspension of staff transport services. As a result, the Ministry of Health and its partners adopted emergency operating mechanisms from 16 September, prioritising emergency and life-saving services and reducing routine healthcare activities.
In an effort to support the continuation of services, Humanitarian Coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov allocated 2 million dollars from the Humanitarian Fund for the Occupied Palestinian Territory on 17 September to provide fuel for health-sector partners.
World Health Organisation reveals decline in hospital capacity
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs described these interventions as temporary measures helping to prevent further interruptions to life-saving services, but said they offered no sustainable solution to the energy crisis and facilities’ reliance on fuel-consuming generators. World Health Organisation data shows the extent of the decline in the health system’s operational capacity.
The organisation’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said during a ministerial meeting on humanitarian access and health in Gaza held on 24 September that only 19 of the 36 hospitals in the Strip were partially operational, and that no hospital was operating at full capacity.
Ghebreyesus added that essential medicines, diagnostic tools, equipment and fuel were in critical shortage, depriving cancer patients of treatment and obstructing kidney patients’ access to regular dialysis sessions. He said this was increasing the risks faced by mothers and newborns because facilities lacked medicines, equipment and specialised staff.
He said thousands of injured people had undergone amputations or suffered injuries that would affect them for life, while only a limited number had received prosthetics services and medical rehabilitation capacity remained severely restricted. He also said tens of thousands needed specialised care that was unavailable within the Strip. According to the World Health Organisation, about 12,400 patients had been medically evacuated from Gaza since October 2023.
World Health Organisation calls for supply and evacuation routes to be opened
The organisation called for rapid, sustained and unhindered access for humanitarian aid; permission for medical equipment and supplies to enter; the rehabilitation of health facilities; the restoration of patient referral routes to East Jerusalem and the West Bank; and an expansion of medical evacuations.
The organisation said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees remained one of the main providers of public health services in Gaza, with more than 1,000 staff delivering about 10,000 health consultations a day. It warned that restrictions facing the agency and humanitarian organisations could reduce the availability of services, medicines and life-saving assistance to residents of the Strip.
The supply crisis is deepening the suffering of patients and their families, who are struggling to ensure that treatment continues as hospitals’ ability to operate departments and medical equipment declines.
Continued care remains dependent on a regular flow of fuel, oil, spare parts, medicines and medical consumables, rather than on emergency supplies and temporary funding.
