Death stares in the face of 189 patients if they are not evacuated urgently
THE Israelis have decimated Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure during their ongoing genocide, ensuring that the survivors must endure their wounds and chronic conditions without adequate care. Compounding the suffering of the Palestinians, the Israelis have also largely blocked medical evacuations from the besieged enclave and efforts to reconstruct destroyed hospitals; as a result, patients in need of urgent treatment have been condemned to their fate.
“By preventing their access to essential healthcare, Israel is subjecting them to conditions of life that threaten their physical survival, constituting one of the acts associated with the crime of genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian civilian population for more than two and a half years,” the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has said.
The catastrophic state of the Gaza Strip has meant that 20,863 patients — including 5,342 children under the age of 18 — with serious diseases and in urgent need of travel abroad for treatment have been denied the medical care that they desperately need. The PCHR report added that 2,194 of these patients are suffering from “critically severe conditions,” while 189 patients are staring death in the face if they are not evacuated urgently.
Since February 1, “only 7.1% of the total number of patients awaiting medical evacuation” have been allowed to leave the Gaza Strip, Zaher al-Wheidi, a Gaza Health Ministry official, told PCHR.
The report added that 1,628 patients had died waiting for evacuation.
Those suffering from “cancer, cardiovascular diseases, kidney failure, congenital abnormalities, and blood disorders” are at a heightened risk of death due to Israeli intransigence in permitting their evacuation.
One of the testimonies in the PCHR report highlights the struggle of a family with a newborn baby who is suffering from a respiratory condition.
Having struggled with the lack of specialised treatment in the enclave for the nearly one-year-old girl, the family obtained a medical referral for treatment abroad, but the Israelis have denied them permission to leave Gaza.
Tareq al-‘Adini (22), originally from al-Satr al-Gharbi area of Khan Younis and currently displaced in al-Mawasi, told PCHR:
‘My daughter was born by caesarean section on 11 June 2025 in the maternity ward of Nasser Medical Complex. She remained in the neonatal intensive care unit for four days due to respiratory issues. However, following evacuation orders issued by IOF for the areas surrounding the hospital, we were forced to leave before she had fully completed her treatment. Two months later, her health condition suddenly deteriorated. We noticed that her body had become completely limp and that she was unable to move her neck or limbs. We subsequently transferred her to the British Hospital southwest of Khan Younis, where she was examined by a doctor who requested a CT scan. The results revealed a serious abnormality affecting the two hemispheres of her brain. My daughter’s condition continued to deteriorate rapidly. She developed severe and persistent metabolic acidosis, acute malnutrition, chronic diarrhea, recurrent vomiting, persistent high fever, and breathing difficulties. She also refused to breastfeed, forcing us at times to use a nasogastric feeding tube to provide her with nutrition. Doctors informed us that the treatment she requires is unavailable in hospitals in the Gaza Strip. They explained that she needs specialized genetic testing and examinations to reach an accurate diagnosis of her condition. Approximately six months ago, we obtained a medical referral for treatment abroad, and a hospital in Italy agreed to receive her. However, to this day, we are still awaiting approval from the Israeli authorities to travel and leave the Gaza Strip. I appeal to human rights and humanitarian organizations to intervene urgently to help my daughter and save her life.’
Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiyah, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, said that hospitals are running critically low on medicines and other essentials, making it extremely difficult for doctors to provide even basic care to patients and the injured amidst Israel’s relentless bombing of the Gaza Strip despite the “ceasefire” that went into effect last October.
He revealed that 50 per cent of essential medicines and 70 percent of medical consumables are currently out of stock.
Dr Abu Salmiyah also highlighted the strain on electricity generators, which are critical for the functioning of hospitals, due to an acute shortage of fuel and spare parts made worse by the ongoing Israeli siege of the enclave.
Having survived the ongoing Israeli genocide so far, Palestinians in Gaza are left facing a slow strangulation due to the unrelenting Israeli siege, which keeps tightening with each passing day amid global inaction. — Palestine Will Be Free
