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Bleeding and in pain after being shot in the leg, shoulder and abdomen by an Israeli drone in Gaza city two weeks ago, Ghazi Ishtaywi had to wait for more than half an hour before staff at Al Ahli Baptist Hospital could attend to him.
“The delay wasn’t because of negligence,” Mr Ishtaywi, 25, told The National. “It’s just that there were too many injured and not enough doctors or equipment to treat us all.”
Israel’s renewed onslaught in Gaza since last month has overwhelmed a healthcare system teetering on the verge of collapse after 18 months of war, with most of the Palestinian enclave's medical facilities either completely or partly destroyed. Staff, equipment and medicine are in short supply.
Once the doctors were able to examine Mr Ishtaywi, they had to perform an X-ray on outdated machines that could not keep up with the influx of trauma cases. They found that a bullet lodged in his lower abdomen and he needed an operation to remove it.
“When the doctors saw the scan, they said it was too dangerous to leave the bullet inside,” Mr Ishtaywi said. “Normally, this kind of operation would require full anaesthesia in a sterile operating room, but they had no choice but to operate using only local anaesthesia.”
That meant numbing only the immediate area around the wound, leaving Mr Ishtaywi conscious throughout the surgery.
“You still feel pressure, movement, pain. It’s a terrible mental and physical experience,” he recalled. “After the operation, the next battle was getting painkillers and antibiotics. They just weren’t available. My sisters had to search outside the hospital, sometimes bringing medicine from contacts or private sources.”
The shortage of medicine in Gaza is “extremely severe and suffocating”, said Dr Khalil Al Daqran, spokesman for the Ministry of health in the enclave.
“What worsens the crisis is the increasing number of injuries caused by Israeli air strikes and ground operations.”
Al Ahli Baptist Hospital, the last fully functioning hospital in Gaza, was hit by an Israeli air strike on April 13 that destroyed its reception wing.
No food, medicine or other supplies have entered Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2, amid a stand-off with Hamas over extending a ceasefire that began on January 19.
More than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 4,300 injured since Israel resumed attacks on March 18, according to the ministry. That raises the war's overall Palestinian death toll to more than 51,000 and the number of injured to more than 116,400.
The war began on October 7, 2023 when Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage in raids on southern Israel. The Gaza government media office said on Wednesday that more than 1,400 healthcare workers have been killed so far, and about 360 workers have been detained by Israel.
Dr Al Daqran said the ministry estimates that Gaza’s stock of essential medicine is 37 per cent less than its needs, while the shortfall in medical supplies and personnel was nearly 60 per cent.
Resources are being rationed for the most critical cases, leaving many patients, especially those with chronic illnesses such as cancer or kidney failure, without access to life-saving treatment.
“In most hospitals, surgeries are now conducted with minimal resources,” he said. “Often, there is no anaesthesia or post-operative pain relief. Doctors are working with basic tools, and sometimes, no medications at all.”
Mohammed Ghabaeen, a pharmacist in Gaza city, said pharmacies were advising people to turn to traditional remedies because they did not have stocks of the medicine they need.
“People come to us because hospitals have nothing left, but we don’t have the medicine either,” Mr Ghabaeen told The National. “Many of us are advising people to turn to natural herbs, anything to help ease their symptoms.
“This isn’t how it should be. Herbal remedies can’t replace antibiotics, painkillers, or cancer medications, but it’s all we have now.”
With Israel insisting that it has no intention of halting its military operations or lifting its blockade, the situation for doctors and patients will soon get worse.
“We are not just short on medicine,” Dr Al Daqran said. “We are short on time.”
