Gaza is on brink of health collapse, where people are being deprived of their right to life
GAZA, April 08 (YPA) – In a scene that transcends catastrophe, the health system in the Gaza Strip is facing one of its worst-ever crises amid the ongoing Israeli aggression and stifling blockade.
With the advent of World Health Day, which is supposed to be an occasion to raise awareness of the importance of health care, the Gaza Strip is shifting from a celebration to a warning zone, as the slogan “Health for All” is transformed into a completely lost health reality.
Dying health system
A statement issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza on Monday paints a bleak picture of a health system collapsing under the weight of staggering figures.
The shortage of essential medicines has reached 37%, and medical supplies have reached 59%, while critical departments in hospitals are shutting down due to fuel shortages and the destruction of vital equipment.
These figures do not merely reflect a pharmaceutical crisis; they represent a direct threat to the lives of thousands of wounded and sick people who no longer receive even the most basic healthcare, especially those suffering from chronic diseases such as cancer and blood diseases, who are left to an unknown fate in the absence of essential medicines and treatment protocols.
Comprehensive collapse
The targeting did not stop at destroying equipment and facilities; it also included medical personnel.
The martyrdom of 1,300 ambulance and humanitarian workers indicates a direct targeting of the human element responsible for saving lives, which constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law.
Moreover, depriving more than 13,000 patients of access to treatment outside the Gaza Strip due to the closure of the Rafah crossing reveals another dimension of the tragedy: a double siege that prevents treatment at home and closes the door on any external alternatives.
Children are in danger
Among the most dangerous things stated in the ministry’s statement is the shortage of basic vaccines for children, including the polio vaccine, which opens the door to future health disasters whose results may not appear now but which will later be reflected in public health and threaten to undermine years of efforts to combat epidemics.
A painful paradox
That this situation coincides with World Health Day is a remarkable and painful paradox. At a time when international organizations raise slogans of health justice and the right to treatment, over two million people in Gaza suffer from comprehensive deprivation of this right amid complete international silence and actual complicity by preventing the entry of aid or being satisfied with verbal condemnations.
Is there any international action?
The Ministry of Health’s message was clear: this situation cannot continue without genuine international intervention, not just verbal condemnation.
There is an urgent need to remove Gaza’s health sector from the circle of targeting and to ensure the immediate and sustainable entry of medical and humanitarian supplies.
But the biggest question remains: Will the international community act before what remains of this sector is erased? Or will the “right to health” remain ink on paper for the residents of the Gaza Strip?
YPA