Israel’s assault on Gaza has left access to medical oxygen extremely limited. Those affected include up to 12,000 cancer patients, leaving some patients struggling to breathe in packed medical wards. Drop Site News reported that Gaza’s health ministry:
issued an urgent appeal, warning that the few functional oxygen plants in the enclave were operating beyond their maximum capacity and frequently breaking down.
The ministry called for the immediate opening of crossings to allow for the importing of spare parts and technical equipment necessary for maintenance, as well as the emergency supply of new plants.
Access to oxygen is not a medical luxury, it is a lifeline for many vital and life-saving departments.
Ministry of health engineer Mazen Al-Aryashi told Drop Site:
Before the war, we had 34 oxygen generation plants. The occupation put 22 of them out of service.
Al-Aryashi said that remaining 12 badly need maintenance. Israel also destroyed all but four of thirty oxygen filling units in Gaza:
If any one of these plants breaks down, God forbid, it would mean shutting down numerous departments in a hospital. If a central oxygen plant stops operating, it would effectively be a death sentence for patients.
Israel’s merciless assault on healthcare
Al-Shifa Hospital engineer Ahmed Younis told the news outlet:
We now collect equipment damaged during the [Israeli] ground incursion and the bombing of the hospital. We collect them, dismantle matching equipment of the same type, salvage and repair the parts, and then reassemble the equipment.
Younis added that:
We have managed to restore only around 15% of the hospital’s equipment. Most of the equipment needs to be replaced and is difficult to repair under the current conditions.
The settler colonial state has prosecuted a long assault on Palestinian healthcare. As the Canary reported in October 2025:
hospitals are currently operating on backup equipment with scarce or no fuel. Meanwhile, a lack of basic medical supplies such as medicines, blood units, and surgical materials are rendering the healthcare system on the verge of collapse.
Israel has also been implicated in the deliberate murder of medical workers, as well as their detention and torture.
In 2025 Medical Aid for Palestinians reported that settler-colonial entity has beeen killing health workers at a rate of two per day:
These devastating statistics – equating to the loss of 70 healthcare professionals per month – confirm the deliberate and systematic targeting of Gaza’s health system. UN experts have called it “medicide”, and an independent UN Commission of Inquiry has concluded it constitutes the crime against humanity of extermination.
This is a full spectrum genocidal attack on the Palestinian people. Israel intends not just to kill, but to remove the very means to live — be it food, water, energy or even basic healthcare. The West has simply looked on as Israel, a key ally, carries out a generational crime.
Featured image via the Canary
By Joe Glenton
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