Gaza Health Ministry Cancer patients in the Strip face a slow death sentence

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip warned on Tuesday that cancer patients in the Strip are facing a “slow death sentence” due to a severe shortage of medications and widespread denial of diagnostic services.

This shortage stems from Israel’s failure to fulfill its obligations under the ceasefire agreement regarding opening the crossings and allowing patients to travel for treatment, as well as the entry of agreed-upon quantities of medical aid.

The medical director of the Ministry’s Gaza Cancer Center, Mohammed Abu Nada, said in a statement: “Cancer patients are facing a slow death sentence, which portends an unprecedented humanitarian and health catastrophe with serious and irreversible consequences.”

On December 21, the Ministry of Health in Gaza stated that the shortage of cancer medications had reached 70 percent due to the closure of the crossings, resulting in the deaths of a number of cancer patients.

Abu Nada emphasized the severe shortage of cancer medications, the denial of diagnostic services to patients, and the continued closure of crossings preventing their travel abroad for treatment, describing it as a “triangle of death” that threatens their lives at any moment.

He called on the international community to take immediate action to ensure the safe and swift evacuation of cancer patients from the Gaza Strip for treatment abroad, asserting that this is “the only way to save their lives.”