The United Nations Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) have launched an emergency appeal for funding, warning that Gaza is on the "verge of disaster", with emergency fuel stocks only able to sustain critical health, water and sanitation services for the next ten days. 

Israel's blockade of the besieged enclave has led to chronic energy and medication shortages, and tightening restrictions on exit permits for Gazans in need of medical care outside of the territory pose critical health risks.

Power shortages have been further exacerbated by electricity cuts imposed by the Palestinian Authority in June 2017. The charity reported that 19 health centres in the enclave have been forced to close as they could no longer run their emergency generators. Such generators have been the only means of getting electric power for more than four hours a day, which has become the norm for Gazan households.

Closures have included key Ministry of Health-run health facilities such as Beit Hanoun Hospital, Al Durra Hospital and Gaza’s main mental health hospital, with many more on the brink of shutting if the current situation continues.

19 health centres in the enclave have been forced to close as they could no longer run their emergency generators

NGO-run hospitals in north Gaza are now under strain as they cope with increased demand.

OCHA estimated that a minimum of $6.5 million is needed in 2018 to provide enough emergency fuel to prevent services from collapsing, and highlighted intensive care units, operating theatres, as well as MRI, CT and x-ray diagnostic services, as being at particular risk.

Medical services in Gaza have also been blighted by severe shortages of medication and basic equipment. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that in January, 40 percent of all essential drugs were entirely depleted, including medications used in emergency departments. There is also less than one month’s supply available of 26 percent of medical disposables such as syringes and wound dressings, according to MAP.

Rates of permit approvals by Israeli authorities for Palestinian patients needing to exit for medical care outside Gaza reached their lowest levels last year since records began in 2006.

In total only 54.5 percent of permits to exit Gaza for appointments in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, or abroad were approved, with no signs of loosening in 2018.

Dr Andy Ferguson, MAP’s Director of Programmes, spoke to The New Arab: "I am in regular contact with MAP’s permanent team in Gaza, and it is clear from them that the situation is exceptionally dire right now.

There is a general fear among people in Gaza that they are heading for another conflict. Gaza’s health system simply does not have the resources to cope with any sudden influx of casualties from a military assault

MAP has urged the international community and the UK government to provide urgent funding to alleviate the ongoing humanitarian crisis, as well as sustainable long-term solutions to bring the Gaza siege to an end.