Israeli attacks on healthcare infrastructure in Gaza continue into the 21st month of Israel’s genocide. Since occupation forces imposed a full blockade on aid delivery to the Strip in March, health conditions have deteriorated daily, exacerbated by severe shortages of food, fuel, and medicine. Recently, the Awda Health and Community Association raised alarm over the state of pharmaceutical supplies, warning that Israel is using the medical blockade as yet another facet of genocidal violence.
“Al-Awda believes that the silence of the international community and the failure of humanitarian organizations to take decisive action to break the medicine blockade have normalized this blockade as a chronic emergency rather than confronting it as a crime that must be stopped immediately,” the association wrote.
At this point, all types of medicines and medical supplies are in short supply in Gaza. This is having a particularly devastating impact on specific groups, including cancer patients, pregnant women, and children. Over 40% of essential childhood vaccines are unavailable, Al-Awda reported, increasing the risk of outbreaks of diseases such as polio – something the World Health Organization had previously attempted to mitigate, despite being obstructed by Israeli attacks.
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The likelihood of outbreaks has also increased dramatically due to the inhumane living conditions in camps and among the rubble. Crowded into tents and shelters without adequate sanitation, people in Gaza have struggled for months with the spread of infections. According to the Ministry of Health, there are now dozens of cases of meningitis in the Strip. While viral meningitis, of which at least 259 cases had been confirmed by the end of June, generally heals under normal conditions, such outcomes are far less likely under the current circumstances. Infants under one month of age are especially vulnerable, with the highest risk of severe illness, all while being born malnourished and slowly starving due to the imposed blockade on food, including formula.
Skin conditions also continue to spread in Gaza amid the shortage of effective medications, Al-Awda reported. As standard treatments are not available, ailments such as scabies and other skin infections are being treated with ointments that sometimes relieve symptoms but do not address the root causes. “My children suffer from severe skin infections due to the lack of water for bathing, the overcrowded conditions of the camp, and the prevalence of mosquitoes, rats, and insects I’ve never seen before,” a mother living in a tent near Gaza’s port told Al Mezan Center for Human Rights.
“I’ve taken the children to the hospital several times seeking treatment. Each time, I was given a type of ointment that slightly relieves the itching, but does not heal the infections.”
Al-Awda emphasized that the suffering caused by the medical blockade should have already triggered decisive international action. The association issued urgent demands to address the crisis, including criminalizing the blockade, documenting it as a war crime before international judicial bodies, and building an independent Palestinian pharmaceutical sector in Gaza and other occupied territories.
Read more: Israel has killed or imprisoned directors of all North Gaza hospitals
Among the demands reiterated by health organizations is the call to stop and prevent further Israeli attacks on Palestinian healthcare, including the targeting and arrest of health workers. The director of one of Al-Awda’s hospitals, Dr. Ahmed Muhanna, has been imprisoned since December 2023, while Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, has been held for 200 days.
In a recent update, Dr. Abu Safiya’s legal team described his condition after months of imprisonment. His lawyer reported that the pediatrician has lost at least 40 kg, shows signs of torture and beatings, and has been denied access to medical care by Israeli forces. According to the lawyer, Dr. Abu Safiya is still being forced to wear winter clothing despite rising temperatures and is being held in an underground cell without sunlight.
“Israel’s assassination, abduction, and torture of doctors and nurses, its bombing of maternity wards, and its besieging of hospitals, demonstrates more clearly than perhaps anything else, that Israel’s war is a war on Palestinian life itself,” the Palestinian Youth Movement wrote in a statement on Dr. Abu Safiya’s condition.
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.
