Medical official The health system in Gaza is fragmented

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip warned of the dangerous and rapidly deteriorating health situation in the Strip, stating that it has reached catastrophic levels, threatening the right to life and health of more than two million Palestinians, due to the continued restrictions imposed on the health system and the targeting of its essential components.

The Director General of Hospitals at the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, Muhammad Zaqout, told the Qatar News Agency (QNA) that what the Strip is witnessing is no longer a passing health crisis, but rather a direct result of systematic Israeli policies that have led to the dismantling of the health system and the transformation of the remaining functioning hospitals into forced waiting stations for thousands of patients and wounded individuals facing an uncertain fate.

Zaqout spoke of a “health annihilation,” explaining that its catastrophic effects have made the continuation of healthcare a daily miracle, as well as a major challenge to recovery efforts and the restoration of many specialized services. In a related context, Zaqout revealed that more than 20,000 patients and wounded individuals are waiting to travel outside the Gaza Strip to receive necessary medical treatment. He emphasized that the partial operation of the Rafah border crossing is insufficient to address the scale of the humanitarian crisis, given its limited and restricted operation, which exacerbates the already dire health and humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory.

Zaqout explained that the continued implementation of this restrictive mechanism at the Rafah crossing, which limits the number of travelers and slows down medical evacuations, poses a direct threat to the lives of thousands of patients. This contributes to a dangerous deterioration of the humanitarian and health situation in the Gaza Strip and places the international community before its legal and moral responsibilities.