Gaza Health System Near Collapse Amid Severe Shortages and Ongoing Strikes

Gaza Health System Near Collapse Amid Severe Shortages and Ongoing Strikes
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Gaza’s healthcare system is nearing total collapse, with blood banks depleted, hospitals overwhelmed, and essential supplies blocked, as Israeli strikes and a stringent aid and fuel blockade continue, according to media reports.
Medical officials say remaining operational facilities — including al-Shifa, Al-Aqsa, and Nasser hospitals — are facing critical shortages.

Blood donations have dropped sharply as many would-be donors are too malnourished or dehydrated to safely give blood. Health workers report that some donors have collapsed within seconds of giving, making the process both dangerous and wasteful. The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that more than 14,800 patients urgently require specialised care and that fuel shortages are threatening the lives of over 100 premature infants in incubators.

Israeli air and ground operations have continued to hit densely populated areas and, in some cases, health facilities sheltering displaced families. An overnight strike in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood reportedly targeted a health centre, injuring dozens. Rights groups and local officials say Israeli forces have also fired on crowds seeking food, with more than 1,500 aid seekers killed since late May.

Since the war began on October 7, 2023, Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that over 61,000 Palestinians — including at least 18,000 children — have been killed and more than 146,000 injured. The conflict has caused widespread destruction, with UN assessments showing tens of thousands of buildings damaged or destroyed, leaving the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents displaced and reliant on aid.

UN agencies and humanitarian organisations are calling for the immediate opening of sustained humanitarian corridors for fuel, medical supplies, and evacuations, warning that without urgent action, Gaza faces famine, further collapse of basic services, and a deepening humanitarian catastrophe.