PNN – Medical sources in Gaza say that the ceasefire has done little to relieve the health crisis, reporting that most hospitals are no longer functioning, patients and the wounded are waiting to die, and that over the past two years of Israel’s genocidal war, 10,000 patients have died due to the collapse of medical services.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, as Israel’s genocide and brutal siege on the Gaza Strip continues to disproportionately impact the most vulnerable groups — especially the sick — the Gaza Center for Human Rights has documented the deaths of 10,000 patients caused by the blockade, denial of treatment, and the systematic destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system.
900 patients died at Gaza’s borders
The World Health Organization reported yesterday that more than 900 patients in Gaza died while waiting for medical treatment or permission to leave the Strip for care, due to Israeli-imposed restrictions on travel permits.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry in Gaza described the medical situation as catastrophic despite the ceasefire, noting that newly established medical centers have become unusable due to heavy rains and the collapse of tents during storms.
The Gaza Center for Human Rights issued a statement calling on the international community to intervene immediately to pressure Israel into lifting restrictions, opening the crossings, ensuring freedom of movement, and supplying hospitals in the Gaza Strip. It warned that thousands of Palestinian patients in Gaza are racing against time to survive.
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10,000 patients dead during two years of genocidal war
The statement added that 10,000 patients — including women and children — have died over the past two years of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has involved the deliberate and systematic targeting and collapse of the healthcare system. Among the recorded deaths are 1,000 patients who were on waiting lists for medical transfers outside Gaza.
Critical conditions among cancer patients and amputees
The center stressed that its teams have gathered information on more than 1,000 patients who were denied exit, including cancer patients in extremely critical condition due to the shutdown of radiotherapy services; severely injured patients who have lost limbs because they could not receive urgent medical care; and children awaiting organ transplants who now face the threat of amputation.
According to the statement, research teams at the Gaza Center for Human Rights are continuing their investigations and are following multiple cases, including: a six-year-old child suffering from advanced muscular atrophy who urgently needs medical evacuation; a 40-year-old woman with breast cancer whose treatment has been delayed for more than ten months, reducing her chances of recovery; and a young man who suffered a spinal injury in an airstrike and, despite doctors’ warnings of potential complete paralysis, has been waiting eight months for permission to leave Gaza for treatment.
The Gaza Center for Human Rights stressed that these cases represent only a small part of the humanitarian and medical catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, where residents are being deprived of their most basic right — access to treatment. The destruction and bombing of most hospitals, the killing of many medical workers, and the arrest of others have severely undermined the ability to provide healthcare, especially as most specialized medical equipment has been damaged.
Delays in evacuating the wounded is a death sentence
Mohammad al-Kheiri, coordinator at the Gaza Center for Human Rights, said that the occupying forces are enforcing a clear policy of “medical siege,” which amounts to collective punishment of patients. Any delay in transferring critical cases is effectively a death sentence, particularly given the devastation inflicted on Gaza’s healthcare system during two years of genocidal war. Hospitals have collapsed, and access to treatment outside Gaza has become nearly impossible.
He added that the international community must act urgently to restore the right to life for patients in Gaza and hold Israel accountable for destroying the healthcare system as part of a genocidal war and for using the blockade as a tool for the systematic killing of Palestinians.
16,500 patients waiting for permits to leave Gaza
The World Health Organization announced that around 16,500 patients in Gaza are still waiting for permission to leave the Strip for medical treatment, including 4,000 children whose lives depend on being evacuated. Gaza’s health sector remains in a state of collapse, and any delay in treating critical cases amounts to a death sentence.
The WHO noted that Gaza’s hospitals are operating at less than half capacity due to severe shortages of fuel, medicine, and essential supplies, leaving thousands of patients facing an uncertain future.
The Gaza Health Ministry also stated that the medical situation remains catastrophic despite the ceasefire. Some of the newly set-up field clinics have become unusable after heavy rains and storms destroyed the tents.
Khalil al-Daqran, spokesperson for the ministry, said that the humanitarian situation remains dire because Israel is not adhering to the terms of the ceasefire, continues to block the entry of medicine and medical supplies, and is preventing the evacuation of the wounded.
He added that Israel is preventing 16,500 patients and wounded individuals from leaving Gaza for treatment, despite the completion of all official paperwork and medical referrals. Medical tents set up for emergency care have become unusable due to heavy rain and strong winds.
Al-Daqran stressed the urgent need to send tents, mobile homes, and construction materials to Gaza, warning of the risk of widespread disease outbreaks — especially epidemics — with the arrival of winter, due to the lack of safe shelter for displaced families. He noted that these risks are worsened by contamination caused by sewage mixing with drinking water.
Nearly 20,000 patients need evacuation
Dr. Munir al-Borsh, Director-General of Gaza’s Health Ministry, said that nearly 20,000 patients need to be transferred out of Gaza because local hospitals — heavily damaged, lacking medicine, and suffering severe shortages — cannot treat them.
He added that despite the urgent need, Israeli authorities allow only a very small and irregular number of patients to leave the Strip. The suffering of the wounded is worsening due to the continued closure of the Rafah crossing, a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement.
He said that Israel continues to keep Gaza’s crossings closed, preventing not only the evacuation of patients and the wounded but also the entry of essential medicines and medical equipment. Supplies that have arrived since the ceasefire cover only 10 percent of Gaza’s urgent needs. Meanwhile, medical staff are under immense pressure — the number of patients is far beyond hospital capacity, and dozens of healthcare workers have been killed since the war began.
Dr. al-Borsh added that the workload has pushed the remaining medical staff to exhaustion, as they have been working nonstop for nearly two years without rest. He also noted severe shortages of surgical equipment and said Gaza’s healthcare system urgently needs supplies for operating rooms, anesthesia units, and essential anesthesia drugs.