The Israeli aggression dismantles the health system in Gaza and turns it into rubble

Mark
Written By Mark

How did the Israeli aggression destroy the health sector in Gaza? What are the health effects of war? What is the number of martyrs in the Gaza Strip?

Gaza’s healthcare system is experiencing an unprecedented crisis, with most facilities damaged beyond use, and the remaining facilities facing shortages of water, fuel and medical supplies.

According to a report published on the British House of Lords website on January 13, 2025, 1.9 million displaced people in the Gaza Strip are at risk of malnutrition, hunger, and the spread of infectious diseases.

According to the World Health Organization, air strikes and shortages of medical supplies, food, water and fuel have strained an already under-resourced health system, with hospitals operating beyond their capacity due to increasing numbers of patients as well as displaced civilians seeking shelter.

The delivery of essential health services, from maternal and newborn care to treatment of chronic diseases, has been severely affected by lack of access and hostilities near hospitals.

In November 2024, 15 UN and humanitarian organizations issued a joint statement on the situation, saying: Hospitals have been almost completely cut off from supplies and under attack, killing patients, destroying vital equipment and disrupting life-saving services. Health workers and patients were detained. It was also reported that the fighting took place inside hospitals.

Imminent death

The statement stressed that “the Palestinian population in the northern Gaza Strip is at risk of imminent death due to disease, famine and violence.”

advertisement

The World Health Organization said Israeli forces were carrying out a “systematic dismantling of the health system” in northern Gaza. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights described a “pattern of attacks” that “begins with Israeli air strikes, is followed by ground raids and detention of patients and staff” and leaves hospitals inoperable.

While Israel claims that Hamas and other resistance factions were exploiting civilian infrastructure, including health facilities.

For his part, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said, at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on January 3, 2025, that Israel “did not provide sufficient information to prove many of these allegations.”

In December 2024, the World Health Organization reported that the last major health facility functioning in northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan Hospital, had closed after Israeli occupation forces ordered a complete evacuation, entered the hospital and detained medical staff.

The World Health Organization said that over the past two months, “the area surrounding the hospital has remained highly volatile and attacks on hospitals and health workers have occurred almost daily.”

On 3 January 2025, the World Health Organization reported that 16 of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip were partially functioning, with 20 hospitals closed. The organization’s representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, Dr. Rick Peppercorn, said that there are only 1,822 hospital beds available to the Strip.

He described this level of capacity as “far below what is required to address the overwhelming health crisis” in Gaza.

On 31 December 2024, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) provided an update on other healthcare infrastructure in Gaza, saying that “11 field hospitals are operational (6 fully operational and 5 partially operational) and 38% (52 Of the 138 primary health care centers operating fully or partially, 7 out of 27 health centers run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) were operating. With 20 emergency medical teams, although none are in northern Gaza.

advertisement

The numbers show that the number of health care workers killed in the Gaza Strip reached 1,057 martyrs as of December 2024.

Humanitarian organizations also reported difficulties in getting supplies and equipment, including medical supplies, into the Gaza Strip.

Gaza Infographic Infographic Health Gaza Palestine 35,000 children in the Gaza Strip lost at least one of their parents. From October 7, 2023 until today, Israel has carried out 3,838 massacres 11/20/2024

Health risks in Gaza

In addition to the risks of injury and death due to the conflict, the main health risks for the 1.9 million displaced people in Gaza include:

1- Food insecurity and malnutrition

OCHA reports that people in the Gaza Strip face severe food insecurity, with 91% of people facing crisis levels or worse, and 345,000 people experiencing “catastrophic” levels of food insecurity.

2- Water and sanitation

Damaged water systems and poor sanitation provision contributed to health risks including exposure to waste and pests. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported “alarming rates of microbiological contamination.”

3- Winter weather and lack of suitable shelter

OCHA reported in December 2024 that heavy rains and cold weather affected displaced families. He said that the tents were flooded and damaged, and that at least 5 newborn babies died of hypothermia.

4- Poor maternal and newborn care

It is estimated that 183 women give birth every day in the Gaza Strip. The few sites able to provide neonatal care suffer from severe shortages of equipment, medications and oxygen, and an increased risk of hospital-acquired infections. There are currently no employees specialized in providing neonatal care in the sector.

In addition, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that more than one million children need mental health support.

Gaza Infographic Infograph Health Gaza Palestine Gaza The Israeli army completely destroys Al-Shifa Hospital before withdrawing 14 days after the Israeli occupation stormed Al-Shifa Hospital - the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip, completely destroying it, leaving dozens dead.

How many martyrs are there in Gaza?

Palestinian health authorities say that the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip resulted in the death of more than 46,600 people, and that more than half of those whose identities have been identified are women, children and the elderly.

advertisement

This number of martyrs is more than ten times the number of those who lost their lives in all previous conflicts in the Gaza Strip since 2008, according to Reuters.

How do the health authorities in the Gaza Strip calculate the number of martyrs?

In the first months of the war, the number of martyrs was calculated entirely by counting the bodies arriving at hospitals. The data included the names of most of those who died and their ID card numbers.

In light of the intensification of the conflict and the limited number of hospitals and morgues, the authorities began to follow other methods.

Beginning in early May 2024, the Ministry of Health updated its data on the total death toll to include unidentified bodies, which represent about a third of the total number of deaths.

Since then, health authorities have been working to identify the owners of the bodies, and the percentage of unidentified persons has decreased to less than 3%.

Director of the Public Relations and Media Unit at the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Zaher Al-Wahidi, said that the reason for making progress regarding identifying the owners of the bodies is the restoration of a central database from Al-Shifa Hospital, and the implementation of a new system that allows families to provide information about the dead that is verified by doctors and police.

According to Reuters calculations based on Palestinian data, about 55% of the identified martyrs are women, children and the elderly.

Gaza Infographic Infograph Health Gaza Palestine Gaza Evidence of the use of a guided MK-84 bomb in the bombing of Gaza National Hospital According to experts, the signs of the ammunition arriving at the hospital and the sound and strength of the explosion indicate that it may be a 2,000-pound (910 kg) MK-84 bomb equipped with a " JDAM Joint Direct Attack Munition

Is the number of martyrs in Gaza comprehensive?

The Palestinian Ministry of Health says the numbers do not necessarily reflect all those who died, as there are still many bodies buried under the rubble. The ministry estimated that about 10,000 bodies had not been counted.

According to a peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet this month, official Palestinian statistics for direct deaths in the Gaza Strip war are likely to be an undercount of casualties by about 40% in the first nine months of the war amid deteriorating health care infrastructure in the Strip.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says that the numbers announced by the Palestinian authorities may be an underestimate. The Commission confirmed to Reuters that the deaths it has verified so far show that the majority of them are women and children.

advertisement

How reliable is the death toll in Gaza?

Public health experts told Reuters that before the war, the Gaza Strip had strong population statistics and better health information systems than those in most Middle Eastern countries.

A study conducted by the London-based non-profit organization Air Wars, which collects detailed lists of the dead from all sources, found that there was at least a 75% match between its lists and the lists of the authorities in the Gaza Strip, which include thousands of people killed during the first period. From the war.

The United Nations repeatedly relies on the numbers of the death toll issued by the Ministry of Health and says that it is its primary source, while the World Health Organization has expressed its full confidence in these numbers.