Amid the ongoing siege and relentless aggression on the Gaza Strip, the Civil Defence Directorate announced that 75% of its vehicles are now out of service due to the depletion of fuel — a stark reflection of the deepening humanitarian catastrophe engulfing the besieged enclave.
In a statement published on Telegram, the Civil Defence confirmed that the vast majority of its vehicles are immobilised due to the lack of diesel fuel, severely hindering rescue and relief efforts as air and ground attacks persist without pause since 7 October 2023. The statement also highlighted a critical shortage of power generators and oxygen devices, endangering the lives of the wounded and sick trapped in barely functioning hospitals.
Gaza, home to around 2.4 million people, has been subjected to a complete and tightened blockade since 2 March, when all crossings were sealed off, preventing the entry of food, medicine, and humanitarian aid. As a result, famine has spread, leading to the deaths of at least 57 people from starvation — the majority of whom were children — while the population is now wholly reliant on limited and sporadic aid deliveries.
The ongoing war of extermination, now stretching into its twentieth month and characterised by relentless bombardments and repeated incursions, has plunged the majority of Gaza’s population into abject poverty, reliant on meagre relief efforts. Estimates indicate that over 171,000 people have been killed or wounded — most of them women and children — with more than 11,000 reported missing, underscoring the devastating scale of destruction inflicted upon the Strip.
The situation in Gaza meets the legal definition of genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention, where civilians are deliberately and systematically subjected to life-threatening conditions designed to destroy them in whole or in part. The disabling of civil defence vehicles, the prevention of fuel entry, the deliberate starvation of the population, and the abandonment of patients and the wounded without medical care are actions that fall squarely within the parameters of genocide — particularly when coupled with ongoing bombardment and targeting of vital infrastructure.
The imposition of a total siege and the reduction of daily life to a mere struggle for survival cannot be separated from a clear intention to annihilate a national group. In this context, the continuing silence of the international community renders it complicit in an ongoing crime against humanity.
