Gaza’s hospitals, including its largest, Al-Shifa, face
catastrophic conditions—overwhelmed, critically short on medicines, and unable
to meet the flood of trauma patients. Deaths from malnutrition and disease are
rising, with health officials and the World Health Organization calling for
urgent international intervention.
Hospitals Operating Beyond Breaking Point
As reported by UN News, Dr Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the West Bank and Gaza, revealed that
“public health conditions in Gaza are ‘catastrophic’, with hospitals operating far beyond capacity. Some life-saving medicines are totally out of stock, while deaths from malnutrition and disease are on the rise.”
Bed occupancy rates
demonstrate the crisis: Al-Shifa Hospital is at 250% capacity, Nasser Hospital
at 180%, Al-Rantisi Hospital at 210%, and Al-Ahli Hospital over 300% capacity.
Medical Supply Shortages and Overwhelmed Staff
According to Dr Peeperkorn (UN News),
“the critical shortage in medications and consumables continue and have only exacerbated, with 52% of medicines and 68% of consumables at zero stock.”
Overwhelmed by injuries,
especially from attacks on food distribution areas, hospitals are also
struggling with persistent shortages of blood and plasma. The crisis is
compounded by displacement orders in Gaza City, which now place even the WHO’s
own medical warehouse in an evacuation zone.
‘We Are Working in Hospital. Tanks Are Just Metres Away.’
Reporting for the BBC, international correspondents confirmed medical professionals’ urgent warnings about an “impending catastrophe” at Gaza’s largest operational hospital, Nasser Medical Complex, due to a severe fuel shortage and encroaching Israeli ground operations in KhanYounis. The Nasser Medical Complex ceased patient admissions as Israeli tanks advanced just 200 metres away, and fire was reportedly directed toward camps housing displaced families. Eyewitnesses described dark smoke and civilians fleeing for safety. Medical staff relayed to BBC journalists,
“We are working in hospital. Tanks are just metres...closer to us than to them”.
Malnutrition and Disease Add to the Disaster
UN News underscores that since the start of 2025, at least 148 people, among them 49 children, have died from malnutrition. Nearly 12,000 children under five were diagnosed with acute malnutrition in July alone, with more than 2,500 suffering from the most severe form. Disease outbreaks—specifically suspected meningitis and Guillain-Barré syndrome—are surging, with 452 suspected meningitis cases between July and early August, and 76 suspected GBS cases since June.
“Both conditions are harder to treat due to ‘zero stocks’ of vital medicines, including intravenous immuneoglobulin and anti-inflammatories,” stated Dr Peeperkorn (UN News).
Fuel Crisis Threatens Hospital Operations
The BBC reports that Nasser Medical Complex was forced to halt new patient admissions after being surrounded by Israeli tanks and facing a critical fuel shortage.
“Earlier in the week, they [the hospital staff] cautioned that the facility was on the brink of a total shutdown due to the critical fuel shortage. Electricity generators were anticipated to operate for only one more day,”
the BBC reported. A cessation of power would leave
“dozens of patients reliant on ventilators in immediate danger and certain death.”
The
Israeli military stated to Reuters that approximately 160,000 litres of fuel
have been delivered to Gaza since Wednesday, but the distribution is not their
responsibility.
Humanitarian Operations in Jeopardy
The United Nations reports that fewer than half of Gaza’s hospitals and less than 38% of its primary healthcare centres are even partially functioning. Efforts to resupply hospitals face severe challenges.
“Access for international medical teams and supplies remains a major obstacle. International medics face entry denials, and key items such as ICU equipment, anaesthesia machines and cold chain supplies are held back,”
Dr Peeperkorn continued. While the WHO managed to deliver 80 trucks of medical supplies since June, delivery remains
“slow and unpredictable, with many shipments delayed or denied.”
Dr Peeperkorn further stressed,
“We need multiple crossings into Gaza opened, procedures simplified, and access impediments lifted...humanitarian supplies are not making it in, or it’s happening far too slowly.”
Hospitals Overwhelmed by Trauma
The BBC highlighted that Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles advanced to within 200 metres of Nasser Medical Complex.
“Medical personnel and numerous patients in critical care are facing the threat of a complete halt to vital medical services due to the fuel deficiency.”
Footage provided to the BBC
showed deep trenches, burnt tents, and destroyed vehicles in the hospital
surrounds.
International Pleas and Warnings
Both UN agencies and on-the-ground health officials warn of escalating disaster. The scale of malnutrition, death, and trauma is “unprecedented.” The crisis has been exacerbated by displacement orders, the encroachment of hostilities into hospital zones, and the destruction of vital infrastructure, including storage warehouses needed for medical supplies.
As the crisis deepens, Gaza’s largest hospital, alongside
many others, struggles to provide even basic care. The combination of
over-capacity wards, supply shortages, endemic malnutrition, fuel crises, and
external military threats points to a health system in total collapse—a
catastrophe for the civilian population desperately seeking care. The calls
from the World Health Organization and medical staff are united and
urgent: unhindered humanitarian access and immediate resupply are
imperative to avert further mass casualties and deaths.