Al Mezan Warns of Imminent Collapse of Gaza’s Critical Lifesaving Services

Gaza, 4 July 2025 – Al Mezan warns that Gaza’s critical lifesaving services are on the verge of total collapse amid 20 months of Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians. The Israeli-imposed aid blockade, the ban on the entry of fuel, and relentless Israeli military attacks targeting homes, aid distribution points, shelters, and tents housing displaced people across the entire Gaza strip have decimated the foundations of life in Gaza.

Since 2 March 2025, Israeli authorities have maintained the closure of all Gaza crossings, preventing the entry of humanitarian aid while simultaneously dismantling the previously established UN-led coordination mechanism for its distribution. Amid unprecedented levels of famine, Palestinian families are unable to access food or meet their most basic needs. The intensified siege has caused widespread shortages of essential goods, with prices of remaining food items skyrocketing. A 25 kg bag of flour, which previously cost $5, now sells for $500 and is extremely difficult to find. The price of rice has risen from $1/kg to $13/kg, cooking oil from $1.5/litre to $18/litre, tomatoes to $15/kg, and onions to $25/kg. Meanwhile, basic foods such as meat, eggs, and many vegetables have completely disappeared from markets.

Israel continues to block the entry of medical supplies into Gaza while also restricting food aid, further deepening the crisis and obstructing the treatment of malnutrition with therapeutic solutions and essential vitamins. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Palestinian children in Gaza are experiencing the most severe stages of malnutrition, and medical follow-up is nearly impossible due to the shortage of therapeutic medications and infant formula. Pregnant women also lack access to proper nutrition and essential medications, posing serious risks to their newborns, particularly premature infants. In the absence of proper nutrition and safe drinking water, more than 602,000 children are now vulnerable to diseases such as polio. Israeli authorities also continue to prevent the entry of vital vaccines needed to prevent these illnesses and curb their spread.

Hospitals have been forced to reduce operations to the bare minimum. The Ministry of Health reports that thousands of Palestinians, especially children, are suffering from anemia and malnutrition. Yet hospitals are unable to provide effective treatment due to the continued blockade on the entry of essential medications and medical equipment. Over 17,000 children are currently suffering from malnutrition, including 5,000 with severe acute malnutrition. At least 66 children have died from starvation.

Israel's continued ban on the entry of fuel into Gaza has further deepened the already critical humanitarian situation, causing the shutdown of essential services, including most hospitals, municipal operations, water wells, sanitation systems, and waste collection. This has raised serious concerns about a worsening public health catastrophe and the potential spread of diseases and epidemics, especially amid the severe overcrowding in high-density displacement camps.

In this context, as of 1 July 2025, Al-Shifa Medical Complex has announced the cessation of kidney dialysis services due to the lack of fuel. According to the Director of Hospitals in Gaza, the lives of 1,200 kidney patients depend on regular dialysis sessions. Nearly 50% of kidney failure patients in Gaza have already died since the genocide began in October 2023.

Amid the intensifying siege, civilians are being herded into the US-Israeli distribution points, promoted as humanitarian corridors for aid delivery, but in reality functioning as death traps. These have been sites of mass killings, indicating a premeditated strategy by Israeli forces to weaponize aid distribution as a tool of starvation, humiliation, and subjugation, stripping people of their dignity and exploiting their desperation. Between 27 May 2025 and 3 July 2025, Israeli forces killed 652 civilians and injured over 4,537 others who had gathered in search of humanitarian aid.

Furthermore, Palestinians are being subjected to deliberate deprivation of water alongside systematic starvation. Water pumping has ceased in many areas; desalination plants and water wells have been repeatedly targeted, and the ban on fuel entry has also rendered water stations inoperable. As a result, residents are forced to walk long distances to fetch water, often drawing from untreated artesian wells water which is unsafe for drinking.

According to the Ministry of Health, since the beginning of 2025, there have been 59,000 cases of diarrhea, 254,000 respiratory infections, and 337 cases of meningitis, including 259 viral cases.

Meanwhile, the siege has also caused the collapse of essential municipal services. The spokesperson for the Gaza Municipality's Emergency Committee warned that over 260,000 tons of waste have accumulated across various areas of the city. With rising summer temperatures, there is a serious threat of toxic leachate seeping into groundwater and a growing risk of disease outbreaks.

Israeli attacks have continued across Gaza, with intensified bombings targeting densely populated areas. These direct attacks on civilians – in their homes, shelters, and tents – have resulted in horrific massacres, killing entire families, with the majority of victims being women, children, and the elderly. Most recently, on 30 June 2025, at approximately 02:50 p.m., Israeli warplanes bombed Al-Baqa Café on Gaza beach, killing 34 people, including five children and 10 women, and injuring 98 others. Medical sources reported that 40 of the injured were in critical condition.

Photojournalist Said Al-Majdalawi, who witnessed the aftermath of the attack, provided the following testimony:

"I work as a photojournalist for Al-Ghad TV. At around 02:50 p.m. on Monday, 30 June 2025, while I was filming a news report about fishermen at Gaza’s port, I heard a massive explosion that shook the area. I saw smoke and dust rising from the northern side of the port, where the café area is located. I immediately got into my car and rushed straight there. When I arrived, I was shocked by the horror of what I saw. From the entrance of Al-Shati Refugee Camp on Al-Rasheed Street, near Abu Hassira roundabout, the area was filled with casualties – both passersby in the street and displaced people sheltering in tents near the targeted site. When I got out of the car, I realized that the targeted location was Al-Baqa Café. The smell of blood filled the air. When I entered the café, I saw more than 30 bodies lying on the ground, some completely torn apart. Dozens more were injured – most of them children and women."

Over the past two weeks, Israeli military attacks have been accompanied by new displacement orders targeting parts of the Gaza and North Gaza Governorates. Residents in most parts of these two governorates were ordered to flee toward the Middle Area and Khan Younis Governorates, amid intense bombardment of residential neighbourhoods. The attacks forced civilians to flee under inhumane conditions and widespread panic. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 82% of Gaza is currently either within Israeli-militarized no-go zones or placed under displacement orders issued since 18 March 2025.

Al Mezan calls on the international community to act immediately, per its legal obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to compel Israel to end its ongoing genocide, impose an immediate ceasefire, and cease the use of collective punishment and starvation to inflict genocide on Palestinians in Gaza. The international community must take concrete action to protect the lives of civilians in Gaza, lift the siege, ensure the unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid, and ultimately end Israel’s unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory, including Gaza.