The United Nations has issued an urgent warning that Gaza is on the verge of catastrophic collapse, with hospitals, water systems, and sanitation facilities at risk of shutting down within hours due to a severe fuel shortage.

Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), described the situation on the ground as dire. Following her visit to Gaza, she reported that water pumps in displacement camps had already stopped functioning. “Unless fuel is immediately allowed in or recovered from storage, more vital services will grind to a halt,” she warned.

Hospitals, already overwhelmed with casualties, are running on fumes. The lack of fuel threatens to cut power to intensive care units, surgical theatres, and incubators for newborns. Meanwhile, sanitation has deteriorated sharply, raising fears of disease outbreaks in overcrowded shelters.

Cherevko painted a bleak picture of Gaza’s displaced families: exhausted, starving, and watching helplessly as their children suffer. “People are simply waiting, waiting for food, for fuel, for a miracle to keep their children alive,” she said.

As Gaza descends into deeper crisis, humanitarian organisations say the blockade on fuel is not just a logistical issue, it is a death sentence for a population already pushed beyond endurance.