A patient surrounded by family members sits on a bed in a corridor lit by sunlight seeping through a window, after a partial power cut at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah on May 23, 2024. (AFP)

Deir al-Balah, August 29 (RHC)-- The Israeli regime has rejected several requests by the United Nations to supply fuel to hospitals in northern Gaza, as acute fuel shortage is delaying lifesaving operations in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Wednesday that several hospitals in northern Gaza have been without fresh fuel supplies for over 10 days.  “Efforts to deliver fuel to hospitals in the region have been thwarted repeatedly, with access denied five times in the past week [by Israel].”

Dujarric said: “The dependency on fuel to run back-up generators is complete as the Israeli authorities cut electricity provision from the Gaza Strip back in October.”

The Gaza Health Ministry warned Tuesday that healthcare facilities are nearing closure due to an acute fuel shortage for generators and a severe lack of medical supplies.  It said more than 60% of vital medications are currently inaccessible in Gaza as a result of Israel’s heavy import restrictions on the coastal enclave.

Many of Gaza’s medical facilities have been damaged, raided or evacuated since the regime’s military launched its genocidal war on October 7th last year.  Israel has made hospitals and refugee camps key target of its war machine, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 40,530 people, most of whom women and children, according to the most recent data by Gaza health officials.