Everything rebuilt in Gaza during the short ceasefire over the past two months has been rapidly unraveling under the renewed assault by Israeli occupation forces since March 18. Health and humanitarian workers on the ground are already warning of critical shortages, from fuel to medical supplies, exacerbated by a complete blockade of aid deliveries imposed earlier this month.
Even now, Gavin Kelleher from the Norwegian Refugee Council said during an emergency briefing on March 26, “there is almost nothing left to distribute.”
The resumed assaults follow a short period of cautious recuperation in Gaza’s healthcare system, which has been under continuous, targeted attack since October 7, 2023. By the end of February, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners had succeeded in conducting a polio vaccination campaign, extending their reach beyond earlier attempts implemented under fire.
Some hospitals had also resumed limited operations. Among them were Al-Quds Hospital and the Qatari-supported Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics – crucial given the number of Palestinians with amputations or life-altering injuries requiring specific forms of care. According to some reports, however, the rehabilitation hospital was forced to shut down soon after the renewed attacks began.
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Since the assaults resumed and new forced evacuation orders were issued, hundreds of thousands of Gaza’s residents have seen their hope crash, said Clémence Lagouardat of Oxfam. Lagouardat noted that many people are physically and emotionally completely exhausted, unable to relocate yet again, adding that this puts them in even more danger. Those who stay back will be labeled “unlawful combatants” by Israeli forces, effectively making them targets, she explained.
Lagouardat and her colleagues expressed concern for those affected by the latest displacement orders who can no longer bear the thought of seeking shelter elsewhere. After all, the humanitarian workers stressed, there is still no safe place in Gaza. In addition, Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program noted that no one in Gaza feels in control of what is happening – a sense of agency that is essential for both recovery and reaction. “People are just waiting for the day they die,” Dr. Abu Jamei said.
Mounting pressure on healthcare
Since last week, Gaza’s hospitals have once again been overwhelmed by scenes of devastation. Just days before he was killed in one of the strikes, journalist Hossam Shabat described how many people in northern Gaza were reaching hospitals by carts or broken-down cars, rather than ambulances. “There aren’t enough beds, doctors, or medicine. The air is filled with screams and cries,” he wrote on X. “With no available operating tables, the hospital floor becomes the only option – where young children are being hand-stitched. The hospital has run out of anesthesia, leaving young children to endure every moment of pain.”
Just like Shabat observed, supplies are shrinking rapidly, and medical personnel are forced to ration them again. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a US surgeon volunteering at Nasser Hospital, described the steadfastness of Palestinian nurses and doctors who continue to care for the injured, even as their morale suffers due to the conditions. Medics are forced to make impossible decisions minute by minute, Dr. Sidhwa said, all while understanding the West does not value them as much as other health workers in conflict zones.
“Palestinian doctors are heroes – some working 24-hour shifts while fasting,” Shabat wrote on March 20. “They look numb, exhausted, but they keep going because there’s no other choice. They have to keep going. While the world may have given up on us, we cannot give up on each other.”
Against all odds, Palestinian health workers are still managing to respond to mass casualty events, including after the attacks of March 18, which Dr. Sidhwa described as the largest he had ever witnessed. Days later, a direct strike on Nasser Hospital killed five people, including one of Dr. Sidhwa’s teenage patients. If he had been able to visit the patient as planned, he would be dead too, the surgeon said.
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Health workers remain deliberate targets of Israeli attacks. Hospital directors Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and Dr. Ahmed Muhanna are both still imprisoned, and Dr. Abu Safiya’s administrative detention was recently extended by six months. Reports of his abuse in prison continue to emerge, along with international calls for his and Dr. Muhanna’s release.
Since the renewed attacks, more health workers have been killed and injured, including staff from the Awda Health and Community Association. Members of a first-response team from the Palestine Red Crescent Society are also currently unaccounted for.
Gaza’s healthcare needs a real ceasefire
Outside of healthcare, the situation is deteriorating equally fast. Access to clean water, food, and dignified living conditions is extremely limited, undermining the physiological ability to heal and survive. Alexandra Saieh from Save the Children noted that fear of attacks has become so pronounced over the past days that families are avoiding trips to nutrition centers. The combination of bombardment and blockade has also disrupted bakeries and water systems, according to Kelleher and Lagouardat, creating conditions for another full-scale humanitarian catastrophe within weeks – or even days.
For Dr. Abu Jamei and others, the only sustainable way to address the health crisis is through a full, permanent ceasefire: not only to allow rebuilding, but also to offer Palestinians the space to mourn and confront the trauma of the past months.
People’s Health Dispatch is a fortnightly bulletin published by the People’s Health Movement and Peoples Dispatch. For more articles and to subscribe to People’s Health Dispatch, click here.
