GazaHerald – Field hospitals have become the last line of defense for survival in Gaza, where tents now stand in place of what were once fully equipped medical centers. In these fragile and improvised spaces, the war-wounded wait for care that is no longer available in destroyed hospitals.
The World Health Organization reports that 94% of Gaza’s hospitals have been damaged or destroyed, making these temporary tents not only helpful but essential.
Aid organizations warn that the healthcare balance has collapsed entirely. With demand surging and permanent facilities faltering, field hospitals have become lifelines, critical to keeping thousands alive on the edge of catastrophe.
Yet even these fragile shelters face existential threat. The Israeli occupation army has issued warnings to Gaza City hospitals to prepare for the full evacuation of patients, medical staff, and equipment in preparation for a planned invasion of the city.
Shifa Hospital Growing Suffering
The Palestinian Ministry of Health rejected the order, saying it would deprive more than one million people of their right to treatment and put patients and the wounded at grave risk.
Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, warned that an evacuation would amount to a death sentence for more than two thousand patients across Gaza City hospitals, including Al-Shifa, Baptist, General Service, and Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital.
Among them are over 120 patients in intensive care units and nurseries, many of whom cannot be safely moved. “There is no place in Gaza City or its south capable of accommodating this large number of wounded and sick people,” he stressed.
Health authorities have been in urgent contact with international organizations, insisting that Gaza’s hospitals must remain operational. Abu Salmiya added that the fate of 1.3 million people in the north would be in jeopardy if Israel carries out its threats to invade, given the massive overcrowding of camps and field hospitals that already struggle to cope.
