The United Nations warned this week that Gaza is on the brink of a complete shutdown of essential services as fuel stocks have all but vanished after more than 110 days of an Israeli blockade. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on 18 June that hospitals, water pumps and ambulances are “hours away” from ceasing operations without an immediate resupply of fuel. While no new fuel has entered the enclave since early March, UN staff on 19 June succeeded in transferring about 280,000 litres already inside Gaza from Rafah to the central town of Deir al-Balah. OCHA said the one-off move buys only “a bit of time” and falls far short of daily requirements to keep generators and humanitarian logistics running. The fuel shortage is intensifying a rapidly growing nutrition emergency. UNICEF reported that 5,100 Palestinian children were treated for malnutrition in May alone, raising the tally to 16,736 cases recorded since the start of the year—an average of 112 children every day. The agency described the surge as “alarming” and directly linked it to restricted food deliveries and the collapse of water and sanitation systems. Doctors Without Borders, the World Health Organization and other aid groups say deliberate shortages of fuel, food and medicine are leaving Gaza’s hospitals overcrowded and forcing incubators, desalination plants and telecommunications offline. The organisations called on Israel to lift the fuel ban, reopen border crossings for large-scale humanitarian deliveries and agree to a cease-fire, warning that otherwise preventable child deaths will continue to rise.