Watan-Since the beginning of the war on Gaza, Israel has systematically targeted the health care system in the Strip, deliberately bombing hospitals, blocking the entry of vital medical supplies, and preventing the evacuation of wounded and sick individuals, all while tightening its blockade on Palestinians.
Hospitals in Gaza are suffering a severe breakdown due to extreme shortages in medicine and medical supplies. Israeli forces continue to target the health system and its staff while intensifying their assaults. These conditions have led to tragic complications for patients and the wounded, many of whom are trapped in overcrowded facilities with no way to leave the Strip for treatment abroad, despite repeated pleas that have gone unanswered.
In the surgery department of the Baptist (Al-Ahli Arab) Hospital in Gaza City, nurse Qassem Abu Sharia and his colleagues share a single device to monitor patients’ vital signs. The department is meant to handle 22 patients, but it currently holds more than 40. Patients spill into the hallways, beds crammed side-by-side, stripping away any privacy. Wound care and dressing changes take place in plain view of everyone.
Among the patients is Rami Abu Sultan, immobile with an open wound in his leg after surgeries failed due to lack of resources and critical medications. Injured by an Israeli airstrike in September 2024, he sustained fractures to his pelvis, spine, and both legs. Surgeons applied internal and external bone fixators, but his condition worsened without proper care. The wound has become swollen and remains unhealed.
Abu Sultan says, “There are no resources, no medications. I can’t even get the painkillers I need for the pain in my back and legs. I also need physical therapy, but the specialist comes one day and disappears for days.” He fears his condition may lead to permanent paralysis.
Open Wounds in Gaza Hospitals
In the same hospital, many war-wounded patients suffer from unhealed, infected wounds. Rani Dagmash is one of the longest-staying patients, injured on November 15, 2023. His thigh wound remains open and swollen. Everyone in the ward knows him—doctors, nurses, even fellow patients.
Dagmash recounts, “Shrapnel hit my leg during an Israeli strike. I couldn’t walk for seven months. There were no treatments or painkillers in the hospitals.” He had to buy his own wound dressings.
In a small room with three beds, Dagmash still lies with an unhealed thigh wound after eight surgeries. “Initially, an internal bone fixator failed, then an external one was used, but the fracture didn’t heal and led to chronic infection,” he explains. “As long as the infection persists, the wound cannot be closed.” Holding the swollen area, he adds, “I lost my father, brothers, and their children. I don’t want to lose my leg too. I’m trying to avoid amputation.”
Dagmash has had a medical evacuation referral since August 2024, but Israel blocks all evacuations, especially through the Rafah crossing. “My treatment is only possible outside Gaza,” he says, noting his condition continues to worsen.
Nurse Qassem Abu Sharia confirms that Dagmash’s infection worsened due to limited treatments and insufficient wound care. He says the entire ward lacks adequate pain relief, wound care materials, and basic medical tools. “We live in the worst possible conditions. There are too few beds, and supplies are almost nonexistent. The greatest need right now is strong painkillers,” he says.
Nearly 80% of wounded patients struggle to access essential medications, putting their lives at daily risk. Gaza’s Ministry of Health has recorded over 4,500 amputations, including 800 children and 540 women, all due to the catastrophic medical situation.
Abu Sharia adds that during multiple emergencies, patients must be placed in hospital hallways or even outdoor areas. “Emergencies are constant due to the ongoing war, and we only have one device to check vital signs. Some patients need it continuously, but we have to disconnect them when new cases arrive.”
In a hallway between the surgery ward and internal rooms, Hani Al-Barniya lies on a bed, having just come out of surgery to insert a knee fixator after a car accident two weeks ago. His companion, Abdel Karim Al-Madhoun, says, “There was no room, so the nurses put him here. We covered him with two blankets to protect him from the cold drafts in the hallway. Visitors and caregivers are constantly passing by.”
Dire Conditions and Limited Capacity
Gaza’s hospital crisis is worsening as the Ministry of Health warns that remaining fuel for generators will only last ten days. ICU units rely entirely on electricity for life-support equipment.
Hospitals also lack basic emergency medications, sterile dressings, IV solutions, surgical supplies, oxygen stations, and blood units. The Ministry has issued calls for blood donations.
Diagnostic services have ceased after Israeli forces destroyed four MRI machines, four CT scanners, and 33 X-ray devices. Open-heart surgeries, cardiac catheterization, and cancer treatments are no longer available. Recently, Israeli strikes targeted the surgical building at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.
At Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, Alaa Al-Arabid lost consciousness from her injuries—head trauma, eye and hand injuries (including two severed fingers), and shrapnel wounds to her stomach and leg—sustained during an Israeli strike on March 18, 2025, when the war resumed after a brief ceasefire in January. Her husband and four young daughters were killed in that strike.
Her father says, “When she wakes up, she asks about her daughters, and I tell her they’re at home. But sadly, there’s not enough treatment for her. She lies in a large hall divided by cloth curtains between beds—this is all we have.”
Since Al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, was destroyed by Israeli forces in multiple assaults since October 2023, its outpatient building has been converted into a makeshift hospital with a newly created emergency department. It once had 700 beds; now the new facility holds just 70.
Al-Shifa Struggles to Function Amid Gaza’s Medical Collapse
Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the hospital director, explains that Al-Shifa—like all Gaza hospitals—faces shortages in medications, X-ray machines, anesthetics, ICU beds, and inpatient capacity. “Our medical teams have been working for nearly a year and a half under unimaginable conditions—they are exhausted,” he says. The morgue’s refrigeration unit has also broken down and can no longer store more bodies.
Abu Salmiya notes that only 28 dialysis machines are available for 300 patients in northern Gaza. Ideally, each patient should receive three sessions per week, but due to the shortage, they receive only two. “This has led to the death of 40% of dialysis patients,” he says.
He adds that premature infants now face extremely low survival chances because incubators are in short supply. “Most were destroyed by Israeli attacks.”
On March 18, when over 500 people were killed and hundreds injured in Israeli strikes across Gaza, Abu Salmiya says the emergency department received 50 dead and 110 wounded at once. “No health system could handle that. We had to triage and treat only the most critical cases. With just two operating rooms and five ICU beds, we lost many wounded due to lack of resources.” He adds that amputations were performed on children and women out of necessity.
Al-Shifa now operates with a single functioning X-ray machine—down from ten.
Israel has destroyed 38 hospitals in Gaza. Only 13 remain partially operational, offering basic services. Over 1,200 health care workers have been killed, including 170 doctors. According to medical data, around 20,000 wounded and sick people require evacuation, with 10,000 already processed and ready to leave—29% of them children. Since Rafah crossing closed in May 2024, only 1,109 patients have been able to leave, mostly through Kerem Shalom crossing.
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