Gaza’s healthcare system is facing a severe crisis amid the ongoing war and a critical shortage of medical resources. American doctors who have worked in the territory, thousands of severely injured Palestinians could have survived if hospitals had been equipped with sufficient medicines, modern medical equipment and other essential facilities.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on September 24 that only 19 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals were partially operational, with none functioning fully. Shortages of medicines, diagnostic equipment and fuel have made treating patients increasingly difficult.
Delayed treatment and preventable deaths
Emergency medicine specialist Dr. Noor Sharaf visited Gaza three times between July 2025 and June 2026. He described the case of a two-year-old girl named Alia, who fell from the second floor of a building following an explosion.
Doctors suspected that she had suffered a brain haemorrhage, but it took four hours to obtain a CT scan. By the time the scan confirmed the bleeding, the critical window for saving her life had passed.
A neurosurgeon involved in the case said that despite reaching the hospital in time, the necessary resources for surgery were unavailable.
According to Dr. Sharaf, the temporary emergency department at Al-Shifa Hospital sometimes received as many as 300 injured patients at a time.
When essential supplies, including chest tubes, ran out, medical staff were forced to improvise and develop alternative equipment to treat patients.
Facilities for diagnosing heart conditions and the availability of stents were also severely limited, further complicating the treatment of critically ill patients.
Doctors forced to improvise surgical equipment
Spinal surgeon Dr. Mohammad Adil Khalil visited Gaza three times between April 2024 and August 2025.
He described treating a young man with a gunshot wound to the spine, explaining that he had to use different types of screws recovered from a closed hospital to stabilise the patient's spinal column.
In some cases, medical teams retrieved metal pins from deceased patients, sterilised them and reused them because new surgical materials were unavailable.
Despite these extraordinary challenges, Dr. Khalil successfully operated on an 18-year-old girl who had been paralysed. Following the surgery, she regained the ability to walk.
The doctors said that restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities on the entry of medical equipment into Gaza had created serious obstacles for healthcare workers.
Dr. Khalil said Israeli authorities confiscated equipment belonging to his medical team and subsequently prevented its members from re-entering Gaza.
Restrictions on medical supplies deepen healthcare crisis
The organisation Physicians for Human Rights has documented restrictions affecting anaesthetics, chest tubes and screws used in orthopaedic surgery.
An investigation published by *Wired* magazine in March 2026 also reported cases in which surgical equipment was confiscated because it lacked the required authorisation.
The doctors' accounts highlight how shortages of medical supplies and restrictions on the movement of equipment are preventing patients in Gaza from receiving timely treatment.
As a result, people are dying from injuries and medical conditions that could ordinarily be treated under normal healthcare circumstances.
The situation underscores the urgent need for adequate medical supplies, functioning hospitals and unrestricted access to essential healthcare equipment to prevent further avoidable deaths among Gaza’s population.
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