MSF warns of Gaza healthcare risks due to supply restrictions

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned that thousands of people in Gaza are at increased risk of death and illness due to Israeli restrictions on essential supplies, specifically engine oil and spare parts. These items are critical for operating hospital generators, ambulances, water pumps, and water trucks.

MSF reports that shortages have forced medical facilities to source supplies from local markets at extreme costs; the price of engine oil reportedly increased 20-fold over six months, exceeding US$1,300 per litre by late July. The organization noted that a generator failure at an MSF field hospital in Deir Al Balah on 5 August forced the rationing of electricity, which halted x-ray services and prevented the sterilization of equipment.

Filipe Ribeiro, MSF Head of Mission in Palestine, characterized these shortages not as isolated incidents, but as a ‘policy of attrition by design’ intended to dismantle the systems necessary for survival in the enclave.