Gaza bleeds in silence: A people fighting to survive without a health system

Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip has turned into a graveyard, holding dozens—perhaps hundreds—of martyrs in mass graves that occupying forces brutally dug in the hospital’s gardens and courtyards during repeated attacks throughout the war.

Hospitals are supposed to provide psychological comfort to the elderly and the ill, but unfortunately, the opposite is true. Despite recent reconstruction efforts and the revival of some nearly destroyed departments, scenes of destruction and burning continue to cast a heavy shadow over the grim reality Palestinians in Gaza face.

The collapse of the healthcare sector is an issue that must be brought to the world’s attention daily—every moment—because hundreds of thousands of patients are waiting for treatment or relief from their unending suffering.

The World Health Organization has already warned that the healthcare system is on the verge of collapse due to shortages of medical equipment and fuel; the organization knows this sector is indeed collapsing.

It is unimaginable how volunteer doctors and newly graduated medical students are coping with the constant influx of injuries. Until recently, choosing between patients—due to the sheer number of wounded—was an unavoidable necessity.

Even patients receiving treatment lack proper care, beds, oxygen, and local anesthetics. The occupiers have blocked the entry of nearly all medicines, except a small amount, to mislead the international community that continues to turn a blind eye to the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare sector.

Medical staff, despite the current ceasefire, continue to work in impossible circumstances amid severe shortages of doctors and nurses. The challenges are immense, and the crises are dire.

There is an acute shortage of sterile fluids, sterile gauze, surgical equipment, oxygen, and fuel for generators—issues that, despite their severity, have been largely ignored since the ceasefire.

Palestinians in Gaza are in desperate need of humanitarian aid and food, including fruits, vegetables, and meat. The latest reports from Gaza’s Ministry of Health show that 91% of the population is suffering from unspecified health problems. They are experiencing a malnutrition crisis.

Likewise, deaths caused by malnutrition continue to rise, as do deaths among patients with high blood pressure, diabetes, hepatitis, kidney disease, and other unreported conditions.

According to one doctor, the number of martyrs in Gaza has surpassed 100,000, yet this reality is not officially acknowledged.

Because the discussion around the health sector must be more precise, it is crucial to draw attention to the fact that, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, over 400,000 surgical operations are needed for the hundreds of thousands of injured, and more than 17,000 people require travel outside Gaza for treatment.

Additionally, hospital bed occupancy has exceeded 300%, reflecting the immense pressure on hospitals, overwhelming numbers of wounded and ill patients, and critical shortages of medicine and supplies.

Gaza is bleeding in silence today, and its health system is suffocating under the rubble. If the international community does not act immediately, the catastrophe will only worsen, and the lives of hundreds of thousands will remain suspended between despair and a faint hope that the world might—just once—pay attention to a wound left untreated for decades.

Saving the health sector in Gaza is not only a humanitarian duty, but the first step toward restoring life to a people still fighting to survive.