For the sixteenth consecutive week, Israel has barred fuel shipments from entering the Gaza Strip, compounding a catastrophic humanitarian crisis and threatening the collapse of what remains of life-supporting infrastructure in the besieged enclave.

UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric confirmed that Israel has maintained its blockade on fuel since early February, despite the Strip’s total dependence on it to operate desalination plants, water distribution, and sewage systems. While the UN managed to retrieve a limited stockpile from Rafah’s Tahrir station and distribute it to critical facilities in southern and northern Gaza, the quantities were nowhere near sufficient.

“The shortage continues to restrict operations, reduce working hours, and diminish service capacity,” Dujarric warned.

The fuel blockade comes amid Israel’s nine-month military campaign, which has turned Gaza into a wasteland of destruction. Backed militarily and politically by the United States, Israel’s assault has killed or wounded over 186,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Thousands remain buried beneath the rubble, while hospitals, already reeling from relentless airstrikes, face complete shutdowns as generators fall silent.

Despite international rulings and pleas, including binding orders from the International Court of Justice to ensure humanitarian access, Israel continues to ignore legal obligations. The deliberate denial of fuel, observers say, is not a matter of oversight. It is part of a broader strategy to make life unliveable.

In Gaza, where clean water has become a luxury and disease spreads in crowded shelters, the consequences of fuel deprivation are deadly. For the elderly, the sick, and newborns in incubators, every passing hour without power is a countdown to tragedy. And for the world, each day of inaction marks another failure to prevent preventable suffering.