Gaza's Healthcare Crisis: The Human Toll of War and Blockade

Since Israel launched its all-out war on the Gaza Strip, up to May 2025, its attacks have injured more than 100,000 people, the vast majority of them civilians. In addition, Israel is carrying out a direct and systematic assault on the entire healthcare infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, disregarding the special protections afforded under international law to hospitals, medical teams, the wounded, and the sick.

A position paper published by Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) in March 2025 states that, as a result of the attacks and the blockade imposed by Israel, the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip has almost entirely collapsed. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), only 17 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are currently functioning, and even these only partially. Of the 3,560 hospital beds that existed before the war, only 1,685 remain. Of 105 operating rooms, only 45 are still in use, and about 87% of orthopedic surgical equipment is unavailable. Under these conditions, medical staff are unable to treat patients and the wounded.

PHRI also reported that despite the destruction of the health system in the Gaza Strip, Israel prevents the vast majority of patients and wounded individuals from leaving to receive medical care in the West Bank or third countries. From the closure of the Rafah Crossing in May 2024 to the temporary ceasefire on 19 January 2025, only 450 patients were evacuated from the Gaza Strip. During the ceasefire, which Israel violated on 18 March 2025, some 1,680 additional patients were evacuated – all through the Rafah Crossing, except for eight via the Kerem Shalom Crossing. Since then, over a period of more than three months, only about 280 patients have been evacuated. Currently, approximately 14,380 patients are in urgent need of medical treatment unavailable within the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 513 patients have died while waiting for permission to exit the Strip for medical care.

At the hospital they clean his wounds once a day under anesthesia in the operating room. His pelvic area is constantly at risk of infection due to its proximity to the rectum and urethra. He had another surgery in his abdomen, and the doctors created a stoma. He is in very serious condition. He urgently needs treatment outside the Strip because the hospital doesn’t have the proper conditions for him - there’s no medicine or painkillers. Read full testimony of Laylah Ziyarah, about the amputation of her infant son Hani's leg, in a bombing

Lack of adequate treatment and rehabilitation for wounded persons and amputees

In January 2025, UNICEF reported that the number of child amputees in the Gaza Strip is the highest in the world relative to the size of the population.

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report published in May 2025 [copy on file with B'Tselem], more than 15,000 people have suffered limb injuries – the most common injury in the current war – and more than 2,000 people have sustained spinal cord or traumatic brain injuries. According to data the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza provided to PHRI, more than 4,700 people have undergone limb amputations, including over 940 children and about 370 women.

According to the WHO report, as of May 2025, at least 25% of the more than 116,000 wounded persons in Gaza require ongoing rehabilitative care, but most rehabilitation services have ceased to function due to the bombings, blockade, and the deliberate destruction of health infrastructure. Rehabilitation services are currently available in only three hospitals in the Strip: Al-Wafa Hospital in a-Shuja’iyeh neighborhood in Gaza City, Hamad Rehabilitation Hospital north of a-Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza City, and Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis. These rehabilitation centers are collapsing under the load, facing waiting lists of hundreds of patients, early discharges contrary to doctors’ recommendations, and understaffed teams left without basic equipment such as treatment tables, mobility devices, prosthetics, and bandages.

Planes bombed our house while we were sleeping. My brother Ibrahim was killed in this bombing along with his wife, Sally Khader Subhi Yasin, their son Hamdi, 2, and their baby daughter Masah, 4 months old. Their bodies were torn to pieces and thrown onto the roofs of nearby houses. I was seriously injured all over my body, including my abdomen, and had several surgeries. My wife, all my daughters, my brother Mahmoud, and his family members were also injured [...] the doctors had to amputate my five-year-old daughter Malak’s leg because it was in really bad shape. Read full testimony of Muhammad a-Shurafa, about his five-year-old daughter Malak who lost her leg in a bombing

According to the report, tens of thousands of wounded individuals and amputees remain without adequate care, and many are discharged into impossible conditions – living in tents, destroyed buildings, or makeshift shelters without proper access to water, electricity, or medicine, and often without any family to help. These conditions worsen their medical situation and lead to irreversible complications.

According to conversations PHRI staff held with doctors in the Strip, as well as information published by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), doctors report a severe shortage of painkillers, which has led to amputations being performed without anesthesia, including in children. Doctors have also reported performing amputations in unsanitary conditions, without proper surgical equipment, and in some cases even outside of hospital buildings. In situations where basic medications such as antibiotics were unavailable, doctors had to amputate limbs to save lives – even in cases where amputation could have been avoided under normal circumstances.

Every day, Razan was taken to the operating room to clean her wounds and change her dressings, but she still developed sepsis [...] I cried over her, because I knew she was suffering terrible pain. Once she told me she was about to die, and that broke my heart [...] Painkillers didn’t help; her digestive system barely worked, and her blood oxygen level kept dropping [...] She wanted to say goodbye to her father and me, and she didn’t take her eyes off us until she drew her last breath and the machines went silent. Read the full testimony of Falastin Barbakh, about the death of her daughter Razan (14), who had both legs amputated following a bombing

According to the WHO report, about 4,370 adults and children who lost limbs during the current war are still waiting to receive assistive devices such as crutches or prosthetics. Additionally, 83% of people currently living with a disability in the Gaza Strip lost their assistive devices and other essential equipment during displacement. Community-based services have almost completely ceased operating, and people with permanent disabilities – including children with chronic disabilities and children with cerebral palsy – are now receiving little to no care.

The WHO report, along with information received by PHRI from local and international medical teams in Gaza, states that teams have had to conduct surgeries under inhumane conditions. In late 2024, Dr. Husam Abu Safiyah, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, reported that surgeries were being carried out by physicians lacking the necessary training for such procedures, due to a severe shortage of experts caused by the Israeli blockade. Dr. Abu Safiyah was arrested by Israeli forces during a raid on the hospital on 27 December 2024 and has been held in Ofer Prison since.

I dread the moment Hanan and Misk will ask me about their legs. What will I tell them? When I go to buy shoes for my children, what will I do when Hanan and Misk ask why I don’t buy them any? [...] How will they adapt to the new situation? They lost their mother, the love, compassion, and security she gave them, and they also lost their legs, their ability to move and play. Read full testimony of Shifa a-Daqi , about her two toddler nieces whose legs were amputated in a bombing

According to the WHO report, many amputees now require medical interventions unavailable in the Strip, such as additional reconstructive surgeries and prosthetic fittings. As a result, the wounded are left without treatment, without support, and without hope of proper recovery. Only a small number of patients have been able to leave for treatment abroad, mainly to Egypt, but this care is also highly limited and insufficient for their needs.

‘Omar has been suffering badly since he was injured and lost his family. He’s always hiding, doesn’t like to be seen, and tries to hide his amputated arm and his face. He goes to the toilet a lot, but tests showed it’s not a medical issue. The doctor told me it has to do with his mental state. Read the full testimony of Maha Abu Kweik-Abu Rizeq, about her nephew ‘Omar who lost his family in a bombing and his arm was amputated

The report states that child amputees in the Gaza Strip are in severe physical and psychological distress. Physically, after receiving partial care at best, they are discharged into living conditions that prevent continuous treatment. In a September 2024 publication, Human Rights Watch described the unique psychological distress experienced by injured and disabled children in Gaza since the start of the war. According to the report, after months of trauma, displacement, and impossible living conditions, many now suffer from depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and other psychological issues, which often further impair their recovery and cause irreversible developmental harm. Mental health and psychosocial support services, to which access was already limited before the war, have become even rarer since the onslaught began. The report also noted that these children experience anxiety over being unable to flee bombings due to their disability, fear they will be left behind the next time their family is displaced, and concern their condition may endanger the rest of their family. Many are hospitalized without any family by their side, having lost many of their relatives.

More than 100,000 wounded and disabled people are in the Gaza Strip are now living without access to medical care, human support, or the broader infrastructure needed to provide proper rehabilitation. A deliberate Israeli policy of blockade, bombings, and ongoing neglect has rendered them helpless, in a reality with no chance of recovery.

Before my injury, I was a professional gymnast. [My twin brother] Muhammad and I competed in competitions and events. We were among the top in northern Gaza. But the occupation stole everything from me: my twin brother, my legs, my ability to do anything. My soul is broken. [...] I’m still getting treatment at the Patient’s Friends hospital in the a-Rimal neighborhood. It’s really hard to get there because of the rubble and debris in the streets. My father tries to get me painkillers from the pharmacy, but they are very expensive. [...] I suffer from severe pain, and I’m in bad shape emotionally. Read the full testimony of Ahmad al- Ghalban (16), who lost his twin brother and both his legs in a bombing