health care

A patient at the European Hospital near Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered an evacuation of the facility, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 2, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

The deadly cost of Israel’s restrictions on foreign doctors in Gaza

Denied entry or medical supplies after Israel's takeover of Rafah, volunteer physicians describe a policy designed to prevent their life-saving work.

By Patricia Martinez Sastre January 30, 2025

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and Albina Abu Safiya. (Courtesy of the family)

Albina Abu Safiya: ‘The Israeli army deliberately targeted my husband’

Following Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s arrest in northern Gaza, his wife describes her fears over the hospital director's fate and the tragedy of their son's killing.

By Ruwaida Kamal Amer January 17, 2025

Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya. (Courtesy)

‘I will stay inside my hospital until the last moment’

The Israeli army killed his son and arrested his colleagues in Kamal Adwan Hospital, but director Hussam Abu Safiya refuses to abandon his patients.

By Ruwaida Kamal Amer November 5, 2024

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Palestinians injured in an Israeli airstrike brought to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the Gaza Strip, August 26, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

A war on hospitals is a war on civilians: Israel’s fatal blow to health in Gaza

Two documents outline the scale of destruction upon Gaza’s health system and medical workers, threatening the very possibility of sustaining life in the Strip.

By Liat Kozma and Lee Mordechai November 1, 2024

Palestinians at the site of an Israeli airstrike at a UNRWA school in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, June 6, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Israel’s paradoxical crusade against UNRWA

Israeli officials are relying on UNRWA to prevent a polio epidemic — while the Knesset advances laws to expel the agency.

By Jonathan Adler October 10, 2024

Palestinians participate in an activity with pets at the Basmat Amal camp for displaced people with disabilities, Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, August 14, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

For Gazans with disabilities, Israel’s genocide shows no mercy

Feeling but not hearing the bombs, displaced without their specialized equipment, mauled by army dogs: this is how Palestinians with physical and cognitive impairments are surviving and dying amid Israel’s onslaught.

By Ibtisam Mahdi September 27, 2024

Palestinians walk next to destroyed buildings and pools with stagnant water in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, July 19, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

‘The polio vaccine is effective, but delivering it requires a ceasefire’

With Palestinians in Gaza fearing a polio outbreak, health workers warn Israel’s ongoing military offensive will severely hamper efforts to counter it.

By Ruwaida Kamal Amer August 27, 2024

Palestinians are treated at Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, prior to its closure, February 1, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

‘We’re all at risk of being targeted’: Doctors evacuate Rafah’s last hospitals

Almost no facilities remain to treat the wounded in Gaza's southernmost city, as doctors fear a repeat of Israel's attacks on hospitals across the Strip.

By Ruwaida Kamal Amer June 5, 2024

Ramadan decorations at the European Hospital near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 2024. (Ruwaida Kamal Amer)

At overburdened Gaza hospital, Palestinians try to instill Ramadan spirit

Displaced families have decorated Gaza’s European Hospital to mark the holy month, though the war’s devastating impact makes it hard to be festive.

By Ruwaida Kamal Amer March 27, 2024

Palestinians at a temporary tent camp set up for people displaced from their homes, Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, October 19, 2023. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)

Gaza’s health crisis ‘catastrophic,’ say Palestinian experts

Untreated sewage and overcrowding are leading to the rapid spread of disease, while three-quarters of the Strip’s hospitals have stopped functioning.

By Ibtisam Mahdi December 20, 2023

Palestinians fleeing the war are seen taking refuge at an UNRWA school in the southern Gaza Strip, October 16, 2023. (Atia Mohammed/Flash90)

‘Diseases are spreading rapidly’: In Jabalia camp, thousands shelter in one school

Refusing Israel's orders to evacuate northern Gaza, Palestinians are filling every available space amid growing threats of airstrikes and service collapse.

By Ibrahim Mohammad December 11, 2023

Hundreds of Israelis donate blood in Jerusalem, on October 9, 2023. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

A Palestinian physician in Israel wrestles with her duty in the war

Lina Qasem-Hassan was due to join a medical delegation to Gaza. Then the war broke out, and she found herself treating Israeli survivors.

By Ghousoon Bisharat November 16, 2023

Wounded Palestinians are taken to ambulances after an Israeli airstrike in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, October 29, 2023. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Gaza’s health system is on the brink of total collapse

Under Israel’s bombardment and intensified siege, over half of the Strip’s hospitals have completely shut down, with others unable to offer vital services.

By Ruwaida Kamal Amer and Ibtisam Mahdi November 8, 2023