Israel’s ban on fuel entry into Gaza hospitals: A tool of killing and forced displacement
A medical worker is seen at the dialysis department of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on 1 July 2025.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports on 1 July 2025:
Israel’s ban on fuel entry to hospitals in the Gaza Strip constitutes a tool of direct killing and a means of forcibly displacing civilians, as it paralyses medical facilities and turns them into death zones.
In a press release today, Euro-Med Monitor explained that the shutdown of generators and vital medical equipment puts the lives of thousands of patients—including newborns, ICU patients, and those with kidney failure—at immediate risk of death. It also forces their families to flee in search of alternative healthcare or energy sources at a time when no fully functioning medical facility exists in the Strip. This, the organisation said, reflects a systematic Israeli policy aimed at dismantling the population’s means of survival, forming an integral part of the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Death is taking Gaza’s residents one by one through Israel’s intertwined methods, all of which amount to components of the genocide. Chief among them is the unlawful and systematic blockade aimed at destroying the Palestinian population by deliberately depriving them of essentials for survival.
Beyond the daily toll of victims from direct military attacks, many more die each day as a result of indirect means of genocide—deaths often unregistered in official war casualty records despite nearly 21 months of ongoing aggression.
Israel is deliberately denying fuel entry, particularly into northern Gaza and Gaza City, with the calculated aim of halting hospital operations and compelling civilian displacement southward in search of treatment
The total shutdown of the dialysis department at Al-Shifa Hospital today means that “we only have a few days before we begin documenting patient deaths one after another,” warning that this is not merely a health catastrophe but a deliberate execution of a slow-kill policy by Israel targeting the population’s right to life through denial of life-saving care.
Euro-Med Monitor warned of catastrophic consequences as kidney dialysis services halt due to fuel shortages, signalling a critical collapse of the healthcare system. This could imminently affect ICU services at Al-Shifa and other hospitals, threatening the lives of thousands of civilians.
Israel is deliberately denying fuel entry, particularly into northern Gaza and Gaza City, with the calculated aim of halting hospital operations and compelling civilian displacement southward in search of treatment—a clear manifestation of forced displacement, banned under international law.
Refusing to allow fuel into hospitals amounts to a death sentence for most patients, Euro-Med said. It reflects a deliberate Israeli strategy to destroy Gaza’s health system by barring essential supplies, in clear violation of international humanitarian law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, which obligates an occupying power to ensure the provision of medical care and prohibits starvation or health sabotage as methods of warfare.
Since 2 March, Israel has fully closed Gaza’s crossings, banning fuel, humanitarian aid, and medical equipment. Thousands of aid trucks have been denied entry, causing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
Gaza’s health system now faces an unprecedented collapse, with:
• Severe shortages of medicines and supplies;
• Over 50% of hospital labs and 60% of primary care labs destroyed;
• Thousands of vital medical devices out of service;
• Breakdown of blood transfusions and lab diagnostics.
Meanwhile, infectious diseases like meningitis, malaria, chickenpox, and skin infections are spreading rapidly due to sewage overflows and contaminated water, particularly in overcrowded displacement camps. According to OCHA and the WHO, harsh conditions in camps and shelters form a “fertile ground for epidemics,” with thousands of confirmed infections and likely many more unreported.
The worsening crisis is compounded by a lack of clean water—in some camps, a single toilet is used by hundreds of people, increasing the risk of widespread disease. Israel’s blockade and deprivation policy is a genocidal tool, accelerating the systematic killing of civilians and destroying their means of survival in gross violation of international law, including peremptory norms and the Genocide Convention.
The organisation:
• Urged UN agencies and international humanitarian organisations to take immediate joint action—legally, diplomatically, and operationally—to halt Israel’s crimes;
• Called for the end of Israel’s inhumane aid distribution mechanism and the restoration of humanitarian access;
• Called for UN-supervised humanitarian corridors to guarantee food, medicine, and fuel reach all of Gaza;
• Demanded independent international monitors be deployed to verify compliance.
Euro-Med Monitor also called on states to:
• Fulfil their legal obligations to halt genocide in all its forms;
• Ensure Israeli compliance with international law and ICJ rulings;
• Hold Israel accountable, including through the ICC arrest warrants against the Israeli Prime Minister and former Defence Minister;
• Impose economic, military, and political sanctions, including:
• Arms embargoes;
• Freezing assets of responsible officials;
• Banning their travel;
• Suspending Israeli military and security firms from global markets;
• Halting preferential trade and financial agreements.
These urgent steps are necessary to stop the deepening catastrophe and ensure justice for the victims.
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