The healthcare infrastructure in Gaza has been demolished. While it is possible in a displacement camp to visit a medical station, the supplies are very limited, and any prescription is the responsibility of the patient to fill.
Many residents of the camp must choose between food, shelter, clothing, childcare essentials, and medical care.
Serious conditions require evacuation to one of the few available beds, or out of Gaza. With the crossing currently closed and hundreds of thousands dead or seriously injured, there is a waiting list that could take 5 to 10 years to properly address. In the mean time, many must forego treatment completely or take reduced dosages of medicine. Dietary restrictions such as those for Celiac or kidney disease are very difficult to meet.
Some notable developments:
April 1, 2024 – After a two week siege, the occupation withdraws from Al-Shifa Hospital. While they claim there were no civilian casualties, it is soon apparent that was not the case. According to the WHO, 21 patients died and over 100 lived with inadequate food and water, including severely injured, unaccompanied children. Here’s what we found after Israel’s raid on Al-Shifa, Gaza’s biggest hospital
December 27, 2024 – Kamal Adwan Hospital is destroyed following an even longer siege. The patients are transferred to the Indonesian Hospital. The hospital’s director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, is taken into custody at the end of the standoff. He is now held at Sde Teiman military prison, denied access to a lawyer for over two weeks. Kamal Adwan Hospital out of service following a raid yesterday and repeated attacks since October
January 3, 2025 – The UN Security Council announces that only 16 of 36 hospitals are even partially operational, providing a total of 1800 beds. ‘Hospitals have become battlegrounds’: Gaza’s health system on brink of collapse