Tuesday, June 17, 2025

The World Health Organization (WHO) stressed on Tuesday the need to allow fuel into the Gaza Strip to keep its remaining hospitals running, warning that the besieged enclave's health system was on the "brink of collapse."

"Fuel has not entered Gaza for more than 100 days, and attempts to bring in stocks from evacuation zones have been rejected," said Rick Peeperkorn, the organization's representative in the occupied Palestinian territories.

He warned that this, coupled with the severe shortage of supplies, is pushing the health system to the brink of collapse.

Pepperkorn added that only 17 of Gaza's 36 hospitals are currently operating at minimal or partial capacity, with a total of approximately 1,500 beds, about 45 percent fewer than before the war began.

He noted that all hospitals and primary healthcare centers in northern Gaza are out of service.

The death toll by the ongoing Israeli aggression since October 7, 2023, has risen to "55,493 martyrs and 129,320 wounded," according to statistics from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.