The healthcare system in northern Gaza has reached a critical breaking point as medical resources have entirely depleted under relentless Israeli bombardments. “Any injured person who reaches the hospital dies due to lack of resources,” said Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. The medical facility, one of the last remaining in the area, has become a symbol of the region’s desperation as the Israeli offensive intensifies.
With Gaza under a crippling siege, no ambulances are permitted to operate in the northern region, leaving severely injured civilians without access to immediate medical care. Abu Safiya urgently appealed for international intervention, stating, “There is no means to transport the injured. Those injured reach us either by themselves or are transported by civilians, and they sometimes die during their trip to the hospital due to bleeding.” He called for global pressure on Israel to permit ambulances and critical medical supplies, as well as teams of surgeons, into northern Gaza “before it is too late.”
Dr. Marwan Al-Hams, who oversees field hospitals in the region, echoed Abu Safiya’s distress, noting the severe shortage of healthcare professionals. The limited number of medics has left Gaza’s emergency response unable to address the staggering influx of casualties from ongoing airstrikes. On Tuesday alone, a single Israeli strike on a residential building in Beit Lahiya claimed over 90 lives, according to Palestinian health officials. The northern Gaza assault, part of an Israeli operation that began October 5, has left over 1,000 Palestinians dead, says the Palestinian Civil Defence Service.
Abu Safiya condemned the assault, calling it “a war of extermination” against both the residents and the healthcare system of northern Gaza. His words reflect a deep fear that the sustained targeting of Gaza’s infrastructure is not merely to counter Hamas, as Israeli officials claim, but an attempt to permanently drive Palestinians from the area. “Israel is waging a cleansing and extermination war in northern Gaza against residents and the healthcare system,” he asserted.
The current offensive represents an escalation in what has been a year of intense violence in Gaza. Over 43,000 Palestinians have been killed since hostilities resumed last year, according to local health authorities. Among the dead are large numbers of women and children. More than 101,000 have been injured, and nearly the entire population of Gaza has been displaced as the bombardments continue under a blockade that has strangled Gaza’s access to food, water, and medicine.
In response to the crisis, Abu Safiya and Al-Hams are appealing to the international community to deploy immediate assistance, including surgeons and trauma specialists, to help address the critical shortage of medical personnel. “The international community must act now,” Al-Hams emphasized. “The people of northern Gaza are not just dying from the bombs; they are dying because there is no one left to treat them.”
With the UN Security Council having called for a ceasefire in a recent resolution, there is mounting pressure on the international community to ensure its enforcement. However, the lack of decisive intervention has raised questions about the Council’s capacity to act, as Gaza’s death toll continues to rise. Accusations of human rights violations against civilians, journalists, and humanitarian workers abound, painting a grim picture of Gaza’s struggle for survival.
The unfolding crisis raises an urgent question for global leaders: How long will the cries for medical aid, humanitarian access, and civilian protection go unanswered in Gaza? The world watches as lives hang in the balance, with each hour of inaction only amplifying the suffering of a people on the brink of catastrophe.
