bayu-aji
A severe shortage of medical oxygen is creating a life-or-death crisis across the Gaza Strip, leaving families with chronically ill relatives stranded in displacement camps with rapidly dwindling supplies. As the enclave’s healthcare infrastructure suffers under relentless strain, access to the vital gas has become critically limited, endangering the lives of individuals who rely on continuous respiratory assistance outside traditional clinical settings.
In a makeshift shelter located in az-Zuwayda in central Gaza, Ali Humaida spends his days and nights anxiously monitoring the gauge attached to his son’s oxygen canister. His 14-year-old son, Abdulaziz, lies nearby on a mattress, completely dependent on supplemental airflow to survive. With every tick downward on the pressure meter, the family faces the agonizing uncertainty of whether the remaining volume will last through the night and where a replacement can be secured once it is depleted.
For Abdulaziz, an uninterrupted stream of oxygen is an absolute necessity. His father recalled a terrifying instance when their canister ran empty in the middle of the night before they could arrange for a refill. The sudden cut-off immediately precipitated a severe medical emergency, leaving the family in sheer panic as the boy's breathing deteriorated without warning.
With no immediate medical support available in the camp, the family resorted to waving pieces of cardboard and using their bare hands to fan air toward the teenager. As Abdulaziz’s skin began turning blue, his parents watched in terror, fearing he would slip into an irreversible coma or lose consciousness entirely while they remained completely powerless to assist him.
Such near-fatal episodes have grown increasingly common across Gaza. According to figures released by the Ministry of Health on August 15, only 12 of the territory's 34 oxygen-generation plants remain functional. Furthermore, just four out of 30 specialized machines utilized to refill portable oxygen canisters are still operational. The few machines that continue to run are severely overtaxed, suffering from persistent mechanical breakdowns caused by excessive use.
This extensive mechanical degradation has made securing supplemental oxygen an almost impossible hurdle for non-hospitalized individuals. Abdulaziz’s medical circumstances are particularly fragile due to a complex array of pre-existing health complications. Born with underdeveloped lungs and a congenital heart anomaly, the teenager has required specialized attention since infancy.
In addition to his respiratory and cardiac vulnerabilities, Abdulaziz was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a condition characterized by an excessive buildup of cerebrospinal fluid within the brain. To alleviate intracranial pressure, surgeons previously implanted a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt to continuously drain fluid away from his brain. He also lives with autism spectrum disorder, which makes coping with displacement and communicating his physical discomfort extraordinarily difficult.
Prior to the outbreak of the war, Abdulaziz received advanced care through regular appointments at a specialized medical facility in Israel. However, the conflict abruptly halted his access to cross-border treatment, forcing his family to rely entirely on Gaza’s heavily damaged domestic health network.
The crisis has also imposed an unsustainable financial strain on the household. Ali Humaida noted that the monthly cost of Abdulaziz's basic necessities—including medicines, hygiene supplies like diapers, and specialized transport—has jumped to between 950 and 1,100 shekels ($315 to $365). These figures represent roughly double what the family spent on his essential care before the war began.
The physiological consequences of interrupting oxygen therapy are severe, particularly for patients with compromised vital organs. Dr. Ghada Hassouna, a medical practitioner at al-Aqsa Martyr’s Hospital in Deir el-Balah, explained that when blood-oxygen saturation drops sharply, patients suffer rapid heart rates, accelerated breathing, and cyanosis, a telltale bluish tint on the skin resulting from poor oxygenation.
Dr. Hassouna emphasized that human brain tissue is exceptionally vulnerable to oxygen starvation and begins to break down rapidly when deprived of adequate flow. For a patient with Abdulaziz's neurological and cardiovascular history, even a brief drop in oxygen saturation carries a grave risk of causing irreversible brain and nerve damage.
Health officials attribute the widespread collapse of oxygen-producing facilities to systematic policies imposed by Israeli authorities at border crossings. Shipments of essential spare parts, replacement machinery, and specialized industrial lubricants required to maintain hospital electrical generators and oxygen stations have been heavily restricted or outright barred from entering the Strip.
Compounding the problem, Israeli authorities classify oxygen canisters, associated respiratory mechanisms, and backup electrical generators as "dual-use" equipment. Under this designation, the entry of these critical medical tools and their necessary maintenance parts through border crossings remains prohibited.
At the same time, the harsh environmental reality in overcrowded displacement zones has sharply escalated respiratory illnesses among the population. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people live in poorly ventilated open areas clouded by dust, exhaust from alternative power generators, and toxic fumes from burning plastic waste. These hazardous conditions have caused a sharp rise in cases of acute pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
In response to the severe deficit, Gaza's Health Ministry and local hospitals have been forced to suspend external refilling services for patients attempting to manage their conditions at home or inside displacement tents. Medical administrators enacted the restrictive measure to safeguard remaining reserves exclusively for central hospital networks, reserving life-support systems for intensive care units, neonatal incubators, and emergency surgical theaters.
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