As Israeli forces continue to target Palestinians waiting in humanitarian aid lines, they have also persisted in attacking and killing health workers and their families. According to recent reports from Gaza’s Ministry of Health, almost 1,600 medical personnel have been killed since October 2023, while many others have witnessed the deaths of their children and family members in Israeli strikes. These ongoing assaults on health staff and infrastructure have left the health system on the brink of collapse for months, with repeated appeals from health authorities for international intervention to prevent an even greater catastrophe.
Read more: Israel kills hundreds of aid seekers in Gaza in the “Witkoff massacre”
In May, doctors and health activists told Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) of their growing despair after 19 months of devastation. “All this time has passed, and yet we still stand in front of patients and we can’t help but watch them die,” said surgeon Khaled Al-Shawa. “We live under constant threat. Nowhere is safe. At any moment, we could be targeted.”
Destruction of chronic disease care
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), only about 38% of all health facilities remain even partially functional. Forced displacement orders and direct attacks have severely impacted all aspects of care, from primary health centers and field hospitals to Gaza’s major medical centers. The destruction has effectively eliminated entire areas of treatment, with kidney care among those heavily affected. At the beginning of June, the Noura Al-Kaabi dialysis center was destroyed, endangering the lives of remaining patients reliant on this care. According to the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Health Advisory Council, 41% of kidney patients in Gaza have died since October 2023 due to the collapse of dialysis services.
Read more: Israeli destruction of Gaza’s healthcare is a blueprint for future imperialist wars
Among the victims are at least 10 children, while dozens more “are living on borrowed time,” warned the authors of a study published by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office. “The survival of children with kidney failure depends on safe access to functioning health facilities that can regularly deliver dialysis, medications, access to good nutrition, clean water, and shelter,” the study emphasized – conditions that have been absent in Gaza for nearly two years.
Activists and medical experts also raised concerns over Israel’s consistent obstruction of medical evacuations, which only adds to the crisis. “As life-saving kidney transplant is now not possible in Gaza, the restriction of movement of dialysis patients and their kidney donors makes their prospects of survival very low,” the same study concluded.
Emergency interventions might become meaningless, MOH warns
This warning is particularly striking given that between May 20 and June 7 earliest, no medical evacuations were again allowed out of Gaza, despite approximately 12,500 people needing transfers. According to the JVP Health Advisory Council, nearly 480 patients died while awaiting travel permits. Health workers on the ground also reported new threats from Israeli authorities in this context. One testimony from a doctor in Gaza claims that Israel has informed the WHO it will further limit medical coordination for boys over the age of 12, effectively cutting off a large pediatric group access from life-saving care.
Read more: Experts say Gaza needs more than statements to survive Israel’s brutal blockade
Meanwhile, children, pregnant women, and the broader population continue to be starved by Israel. According to the World Food Program, both the quantity and diversity of available food are at critical levels, with most people lacking access to vegetables, fruit, or eggs. Since Israel imposed a blockade on humanitarian supplies in early March, rates of acute malnutrition have increased. For example, 18% of pregnant and breastfeeding women in parts of Gaza are now acutely malnourished, compared to less than 10% in the months preceding the blockade.
Amid widespread hunger and the collapse of water and sanitation systems, even the destruction of health infrastructure is cast under a different light. “Emergency and ambulatory interventions will be meaningless as health and humanitarian indicators deteriorate to levels and outcomes that are difficult to address,” the Ministry of Health warned on June 11.
People’s Health Dispatch is a fortnightly bulletin published by the People’s Health Movement and Peoples Dispatch. For more articles and subscriptions to People’s Health Dispatch, click here.
