Gaza: Over 100 days into Israel’s total fuel blockade of Gaza, United Nations agencies on the ground are warning of an imminent shutdown of essential services across the war-ravaged enclave.
Speaking from Gaza City, Olga Cherevko of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described a dire situation where water pumps and health facilities are hours away from ceasing operations due to fuel shortages.
Cherevko recounted how a water pumping station servicing displaced residents in northern Gaza halted on Wednesday because it had run out of fuel. “Unless more fuel is brought in immediately or retrieved from reserves, we’re looking at a catastrophic collapse of services,” she told UN News.
OCHA’s latest emergency bulletin paints a grim picture: up to 80 percent of Gaza’s critical care infrastructure — including maternity wards and emergency rooms — is at risk of shutting down entirely. The deteriorating humanitarian situation follows reports that at least 15 people were killed near an aid distribution point in central Gaza on Thursday.
Earlier this week, unverified social media footage appeared to show dead bodies strewn near a relief center in Khan Younis, after what was reportedly artillery shelling in the area.
Meanwhile, the daily quest for food has become a desperate struggle for survival. “People are simply waiting, hoping to find anything to feed their children,” said Cherevko. She described speaking with a woman who had ventured out with a friend in her final month of pregnancy in search of food, only to turn back out of fear of violence.
Conditions in Gaza’s overcrowded shelters are worsening. “The situation is horrific. New arrivals from the north are pouring in constantly, while others are returning northward — likely to be closer to incoming aid convoys,” Cherevko noted.
Before the war began in October 2023, around 600 aid trucks entered Gaza daily. That number has now plummeted, with current aid levels grossly inadequate to meet the basic needs of the population. OCHA reports rising hunger levels and warns of an increasing risk of famine. Some 55,000 pregnant women are now at risk of complications such as miscarriage, stillbirth, or delivering malnourished babies due to extreme food insecurity.
“With the trickle of aid reaching Gaza, starvation is widespread. People are forced to risk their lives in search of food,” Cherevko said. “It’s a brutal choice — eat, or face death by starvation.”
More than 20 months into the conflict — which reignited with the Hamas-led attacks on Israel — an estimated 82 percent of Gaza is either under Israeli military control or covered by evacuation orders. Since hostilities escalated again in March, another 680,000 people have been displaced. “There is no safe haven left,” OCHA stated, noting that civilians are taking shelter wherever they can — from crumbling buildings to the open streets.
The UN’s message is clear: without immediate fuel access and expanded humanitarian aid, Gaza faces a total collapse of its remaining services — and an even deeper humanitarian catastrophe.
