1,500 lost their sight due to Israeli aggression, 4,000 others are threatened with blindness

GAZA, May 11 (YPA) – The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip revealed, on Sunday, a worsening health disaster affecting eye patients, announcing that approximately 1,500 citizens have completely lost their sight since the start of the Israeli occupation’s war of extermination on the Strip, while more than 4,000 others are at risk of blindness due to the severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies.

This comes amid warnings of the collapse of eye surgery services due to the depletion of equipment and medicines.

The director of the Eye Hospital in Gaza, Dr. Abdel Salam Sabah, said in a press statement that the health sector is experiencing a critical phase due to the almost complete shortage of surgical consumables and medical devices necessary to save patients, especially those suffering from severe retinal injuries and internal bleeding from explosions.

Sabah explained that the hospital currently has only three disposable surgical scissors, while essential materials such as helium gas and fine sutures required for delicate surgeries have completely run out, which leaves medical staff with limited options that threaten the lives of patients and lead to permanent blindness.

Sabah warned that eye surgery services are on the verge of a complete halt unless international and humanitarian organizations intervene immediately to provide urgent medical support, pointing out that the continuation of the siege and the prevention of equipment entry will exacerbate the health disaster and lead to thousands of patients losing the blessing of sight.