‘We just sit and cry’: Gaza’s cancer patients die waiting for treatment

For Hani Naim, the hold is not for a cure, but for support to prevention his ain life.

Living with crab for six years, Naim had been approved for attraction abroad. But similar thousands of others, helium remains trapped successful Gaza, barred from leaving by tightening Israeli restrictions.

“I utilized to person attraction successful the West Bank and Jerusalem,” Naim told Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum. “Today, I cannot entree immoderate attraction astatine all. I request radiotherapy, and it nary longer exists successful Gaza.”

Naim is 1 of 11,000 crab patients presently stranded successful the enclave, wherever the healthcare strategy has collapsed entirely.

According to doctors, the fig of cancer-related deaths has tripled since the October 2023 commencement of Israel’s genocidal warfare connected Gaza. With nary chemotherapy, nary radiotherapy, and nary mode out, a crab diagnosis has become, for many, an contiguous decease sentence.

A ‘ghost hospital’

The epicentre of this situation is the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital. Once the sole installation providing specialised oncology attraction successful the Gaza Strip, it present stands arsenic a hollowed-out shell.

“It resembles a shade infirmary aft being turned into a subject tract during the war,” Abu Azzoum reported. “Israeli forces blew it up, leaving patients to fend for themselves.”

With the main installation destroyed, doctors person been forced into makeshift clinics with zero resources.

In an interrogation with Al Jazeera Mubasher, Mohammed Abu Nada, the aesculapian manager of the Gaza Cancer Centre, described a concern of full helplessness.

“We person mislaid everything,” Abu Nada said. “We mislaid the lone infirmary susceptible of diagnosing and treating cancer… We are present successful Nasser Medical Complex, but unfortunately, we person nary instrumentality to diagnose the disease, and we person nary chemotherapy.”

(Al Jazeera)

‘Chocolates but nary medicine’

Despite caller ceasefire agreements that were expected to let assistance into the Strip, indispensable aesculapian supplies stay blocked.

Abu Nada dismissed claims that assistance is flowing freely, noting that portion immoderate commercialized goods person entered, life-saving drugs person not.

“They brought successful chocolates, nuts, and chips … but treatments for chronic diseases, crab treatments, and diagnostic devices person not entered astatine all,” helium said.

“This is conscionable propaganda,” helium added. “We appealed to the World Health Organization … to astatine slightest supply america with attraction if we are not allowed to leave. But connected the contrary, what we had has tally out.”

Abu Nada estimated that 60 to 70 percent of crab protocols are wholly unavailable. Because chemotherapy often requires a circumstantial series of drugs, missing adjacent 1 constituent renders the full attraction ineffective.

Even palliative attraction is failing. Painkillers — indispensable for managing the agony of precocious crab — are present being rationed.

“We effort to prioritise,” Abu Nada explained. “Those with wide crab are fixed some, and those who are inactive connected harmless crushed … we bash not springiness them any.”

A soundless killer

The quality toll of these shortages is stark. Abu Nada revealed that successful the Khan Younis country alone, 2 to 3 crab patients dice each azygous day.

“The effect is that crab spreads successful the patient’s assemblage similar wildfire,” helium said. “We person gone backmost 50 years successful crab treatment.”

Currently, 3,250 patients person authoritative referrals for attraction abroad, but are incapable to transverse the borderline owed to the closure of the Rafah crossing and Israeli bans connected aesculapian evacuations.

For the remaining aesculapian staff, the intelligence load is immense.

“Some specialists person near Gaza,” Abu Nada said. “But adjacent for those who remain, what usage is simply a doc without tools?”

“The doc has thing near to bash but beryllium and outcry adjacent to this diligent who is denied attraction and denied travel.”