Patients in Gaza face agonizing waits and hospitals are overwhelmed by the surge in cases

Fourteen-year-old Mohammed Wael Helles has been waiting for surgery for nearly two months after suffering a severe spinal injury in an Israeli airstrike. He is one of thousands awaiting urgent treatment in Gaza’s crumbling healthcare system.

Helles was a bright student who aspired to be a doctor, but he was injured weeks before the ceasefire that ended two years of fighting. The attack, which killed the driver of the truck he was riding in, tore his spinal cord and fractured three vertebrae.

Wakening up from his injuries 50 days ago to find himself partially paralyzed, he said from his hospital bed in Khan Younis that he is still a young man in the prime of his life, but he has suffered serious injuries and has been waiting for surgery for 50 days.

According to local health authorities in Gaza, the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip has injured at least 170,000 residents.

According to the World Health Organization, about half of the 36 hospitals in the overcrowded sector are still only partially functioning and suffering from shortages of staff, equipment, medicines and fuel, more than a month after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire.