Gaza Herald_ From her hospital bed in Khan Younis, 42-year-old Baraa Abu Zaid measures time not by days or weeks, but by how close death feels. Once a mother of three, she fled her home in Rafah when Israeli forces invaded in mid-2024, only to have her family’s tent struck by a drone. Two of her children were killed instantly; she and her eldest, 13-year-old Obaida, were left critically injured.
“We were taken to the hospital for treatment, but there were no medicines, no proper care, nothing,” she told Middle East Eye. Doctors said both needed urgent surgery abroad, but with the Rafah crossing sealed by Israel, Gaza’s last medical lifeline was gone. Within two weeks, Obaida died from his wounds.
Like thousands of critically wounded Gazans, Abu Zaid had clung to the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in October, hoping it would reopen Rafah for medical evacuations. Yet Israel continues to defy that commitment, leaving thousands stranded in collapsing hospitals without access to life-saving treatment.
“I feel every day that my end is near,” she said from Nasser Hospital. “My wounds are infected, there’s no medicine, and I know I don’t have much time left.”
A Health System Under Siege
Gaza’s healthcare sector, once fragile, now obliterated, stands as a testament to Israel’s systematic assault on civilian infrastructure. Since October 2023, Israeli forces have bombed hospitals, raided operating rooms, and detained doctors and nurses, pushing the system to the brink of total collapse.
Only a handful of health centres remain partially functional, surviving on dwindling fuel and improvised medical supplies. Each day, hundreds of wounded arrive seeking care that no longer exists. In two years, Israel’s genocidal war has killed nearly 70,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 170,000.
Before the Rafah invasion, around 7,600 of the severely injured had managed to leave Gaza for surgery and treatment in Egypt. But since Israel seized Rafah in 2024, no patient has been allowed to cross. Gaza’s Government Media Office reports that over 9,300 patients have died since October 2023 due to the medical blockade and the denial of evacuation permits.
Among them was 19-year-old Omar Abu Qasem, who suffered severe burns when Israel bombed his family’s home in central Gaza. His brother Rajab said Omar spent two weeks in agony, dying without ever receiving proper treatment. “The hospitals were full, there were no doctors, no medicine. He just kept deteriorating until he was gone,” Rajab said.
Israel’s Blockade Turns Hospitals into Morgues
According to Gaza officials, 22,000 people remain on evacuation lists, waiting for medical approval that will likely never come. Ismail al-Thawabteh, spokesperson for Gaza’s Government Media Office, condemned the ongoing closure of crossings as “a deliberate crime aimed at perpetuating civilian suffering,” accusing Israel of using “human pain as a political bargaining chip.”
The World Health Organization estimates that at least 16,500 Gazans urgently need evacuation, including 4,000 children suffering from critical injuries and chronic illnesses. Among them is nine-year-old Kinan Abu Mohsen, who has a piece of shrapnel lodged in his skull. His mother fears that without surgery abroad, paralysis is inevitable. “He’s stable for now, but every day the risk grows,” she said. “I cry every night beside him, praying someone will let us leave before it.
