Dialysis Patients Struggle to Get Treatment in Blockaded Gaza. Officials Say Hundreds Have Died
Twice a week, Mohamed Attiya's wheelchair rattles over Gaza's scarred roads so he can visit the machine that is keeping him alive.
The 54-year-old makes the journey from a temporary shelter west of Gaza City to Shifa Hospital in the city's north. There, he receives dialysis for the kidney failure he was diagnosed with nearly 15 years ago. But the treatment, limited by the war's destruction and lack of supplies, is not enough to remove all the waste products from his blood.
'It just brings you back from death,' the father of six said.
Many others like him have not made it. They are some of Gaza's quieter deaths from the war, with no explosion, no debris. But the toll is striking: Over 400 patients, representing around 40% of all dialysis cases in the territory, have died during the 18-month conflict because of lack of proper treatment, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
That includes 11 patients who have died since the beginning of March, when Israel sealed the territory's 2 million Palestinians off from all imports, including food, medical supplies and fuel. Israeli officials say the aim is to pressure Hamas to release more hostages after Israel ended their ceasefire.
COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid, declined to comment on the current blockade. It has said in the past that all medical aid is approved for entry when the crossings are open, and that around 45,400 tons of medical equipment have entered Gaza since the start of the war.
Hardships mount for Gaza patients
Attiya said he needs at least three dialysis sessions every week, at least four hours each time. Now, his two sessions last two or three hours at most.
Israel's blockade, and its numerous evacuation orders across much of the territory, have challenged his ability to reach regular care.
He has been displaced at least six times since fleeing his home near the northern town of Beit Hanoun in the first weeks of the war. He first stayed in Rafah in the south, then the central city of Deir al-Balah. When the latest ceasefire took effect in January, he moved again to another school in western Gaza City.
Until recently, Attiya walked to the hospital for dialysis. But he says the limited treatment, and soaring prices for the mineral water he should be drinking, have left him in a wheelchair.
His family wheels him through a Gaza that many find difficult to recognize. Much of the territory has been destroyed.
'There is no transportation. Streets are damaged,' Attiya said. 'Life is difficult and expensive.'
He said he now has hallucinations because of the high levels of toxins in his blood.
'The occupation does not care about the suffering or the sick,' he said, referring to Israel and its soldiers.
A health system gutted by war
Six of the seven dialysis centers in Gaza have been destroyed during the war, the World Health Organization said earlier this year, citing the territory's Health Ministry. The territory had 182 dialysis machines before the war and now has 102. Twenty-seven of them are in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people rushed home during the two-month ceasefire.
'These equipment shortages are exacerbated by zero stock levels of kidney medications,' the WHO said.
Israel has raided hospitals on several occasions during the war, accusing Hamas of using them for military purposes. Hospital staff deny the allegations and say the raids have gutted the territory's health care system as it struggles to cope with mass casualties from the war.
The Health Ministry says over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel's offensive, without saying how many were civilians or combatants. Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.
Officials say hundreds of patients have died
At Shifa Hospital, the head of the nephrology and dialysis department, Dr. Ghazi al-Yazigi, said at least 417 patients with kidney failure have died in Gaza during the war because of lack of proper treatment.
That's from among the 1,100 patients when the war began.
Like Attiya, hundreds of dialysis patients across Gaza are now forced to settle for fewer and shorter sessions each week.
'This leads to complications such as increased levels of toxins and fluid accumulation ... which could lead to death,' al-Yazigi said.
Mohamed Kamel of Gaza City is a new dialysis patient at the hospital after being diagnosed with kidney failure during the war and beginning treatment this year.
These days, 'I feel no improvement after each session,' he said during one of his weekly visits.
The father of six children said he no longer has access to filtered water to drink, and even basic running water is scarce. Israel last month cut off the electricity supply to Gaza, affecting a desalination plant producing drinking water for part of the arid territory.
Kamel said he has missed many dialysis sessions. Last year, while sheltering in central Gaza, he missed one because of an Israeli bombing in the area. His condition deteriorated, and the next day he was taken by ambulance to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital.
'The displacement has had consequences,' Kamel said. 'I am tired.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
What daily life is really like for women and girls surviving under Israeli siege in Gaza
DUBAI: Since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, more than 28,000 women and girls have been killed — an average of one every hour — according to UN Women, making the besieged Palestinian enclave one of the most dangerous places in the world to be female. Thousands more have been injured and nearly a million displaced. As food, water and basic healthcare become increasingly scarce under Israeli blockade, survival has turned into a daily struggle — and women and girls are bearing the brunt. According to a group of independent UN human rights experts, nearly 13,000 women in Gaza are now the heads of their households, often caring for children without adequate shelter or essential supplies. On May 21, experts issued an urgent appeal to the UN Security Council, condemning what they described as Israel's 'unprecedented assault' on Gaza's civilian population — and warning of its particularly devastating impact on Palestinian women and girls. 'The devastation experienced by women, girls and entire communities is not incidental — it is the consequence of intentional policies and actions by Israel,' they said. 'The killings of thousands of women and girls may constitute the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction, in whole or in part, of the Palestinian people.' Israeli forces launched military operations in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during which 1,200 people — mostly civilians — were killed and about 250 others, many non-Israelis, were taken hostage. Since then, at least 56,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials. Israel maintains that it does not deliberately target civilians and accuses Hamas of using Gaza's population as human shields. The crisis has been compounded by repeated Israeli blockades on humanitarian aid and commercial goods, pushing the territory into famine and prompting accusations that food is being weaponized. Despite ongoing international attempts to broker a ceasefire, the conflict has devastated the enclave, triggering one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. 'More than two-thirds of Gaza's population, about 1.7 million people, are now estimated to be crammed into an area of 69 sq. km — less than a fifth of the Strip,' Hadeel Qazzaz, Oxfam MENA's regional gender coordinator, told Arab News. In overcrowded tents and displacement camps, privacy is almost nonexistent. Care responsibilities have increased for women, and water shortages are taking a disproportionate toll. 'From queuing for hours in the heat for water to facing daily health risks due to lack of proper sanitation, the lack of clean and safe latrines is leading to serious health issues, including infections among women,' said Qazzaz. At displacement sites reached by Oxfam in May 2024, water points were reportedly located up to a kilometer away. Women and girls were spending up to three hours a day collecting water — compared to 1.7 hours for men and boys. But water is only part of the problem. Food insecurity presents another growing threat. Nine out of 10 displacement sites show visible signs of malnutrition among residents, with female-headed households among the most vulnerable. 'Women are skipping meals so their children can eat,' said Qazzaz. 'Many are putting their own health at risk to keep their families going. When food parcels arrive, women often eat last — or not at all.' An estimated 71,000 children and 17,000 women are expected to require urgent treatment for acute malnutrition in the coming weeks, highlighting the scale of the emergency and the desperate need for sustained aid access. 'Even when food is available, women often have to cook on open fires due to fuel shortages — exposing them to health risks and doubling the time needed to prepare a meal,' said Qazzaz. Pregnant and breastfeeding women are especially at risk, with many becoming dangerously undernourished. Since October 2023, Gaza has seen a 300 percent increase in miscarriages. Premature births and maternal deaths have surged, with many women forced to give birth without proper medical support. 'Maternal care is nearly nonexistent,' said Qazzaz. 'Women are giving birth in tents, without skilled help, clean supplies or even pain relief.' These accounts are echoed by medical workers on the ground. 'The situation in Gaza is precarious for everyone, but especially for pregnant women,' Denise Potvin, a Canadian nursing activity manager with Medecins Sans Frontieres at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, told Arab News. 'Over the past weeks, we've seen malnutrition steadily increase. It's very visible — there's a huge vulnerability for pregnant and lactating women. The small amount of food entering Gaza through aid crossings is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of this population.' Maternity departments are seeing more women arriving late — after giving birth at home — or showing up in emergency rooms because they couldn't reach a hospital in time. 'Colleagues, including midwives and health professionals, are being woken up in the middle of the night to assist in home deliveries because women simply cannot reach hospitals,' said Potvin. 'Constant displacement, insecurity and lack of transport make it incredibly difficult for pregnant women to access care.' Routine antenatal check-ups have become nearly impossible to access. With clinics shutting down, the ability to detect or treat complications has all but vanished. 'The space that organizations operate in is decreasing by the day,' said Potvin. 'More people are displaced, and it's harder to meet the growing needs of the population.' She called on the international community to recognize the extreme vulnerability of pregnant women under siege. 'Imagine being a pregnant woman in this situation — living in a tent, unable to access prenatal care, giving birth without medical help, while also trying to feed your family, find clean water and maintain basic hygiene,' she said. 'Daily survival is already a huge challenge, and pregnancy only adds to it.' Reports from UN Women, the UN Population Fund and independent rights monitors paint an increasingly bleak picture. Women and girls with disabilities face even greater risks, including neglect, violence and denial of basic services. From bombardment to birth complications, period poverty to famine, every aspect of life has been made much harder. With 90 percent of households facing extreme water shortages, women and girls struggle to manage menstruation without access to clean water, soap, sanitary pads or private spaces. • 28k Women and girls killed since October 2023. • 1m Women and girls displaced by the conflict. • 13k Women who are now single heads of households. • 17k Pregnant and breastfeeding women deemed acutely malnourished. Source: UN Around 700,000 women and girls of menstruating age — many experiencing their first periods — are facing these challenges in shelters and displacement camps. A rapid gender analysis by Oxfam found that 690,000 menstruating women and girls lack access to clean facilities and sufficient water for basic hygiene. Each person is allocated just 6.6 liters of water a day — less than half the global emergency minimum. Toilets are unsanitary, overcrowded and often unsafe for women and girls, with up to 1,000 people sharing a single facility. The Oxfam report warned: 'Girls are vulnerable to harassment and abuse and resort to using old clothes or only their underwear when sanitary pads are unavailable' — a situation that has led to infections, maternal complications and even infant deaths. Despite the immense logistical challenges, the UN Population Fund continues to address urgent sexual and reproductive health needs. Since October 2023, it has distributed two-month supplies of disposable menstrual pads to more than 300,000 women and girls. More than 12,000 new mothers have received postpartum kits for recovery in conditions where professional care is almost impossible. To help women regain a sense of dignity and autonomy, the agency has also provided cash and voucher assistance to more than 150,000 women and girls, enabling them to buy essential hygiene items like soap, towels, pads, and underwear amid severe shortages. These relentless hardships — from caregiving and hunger to hygiene struggles in unsafe conditions — are taking a psychological toll. Mental health issues are on the rise, with mounting reports of stress, anxiety and depression among women and girls. With Gaza's education system in collapse, many girls have become full-time caregivers for their younger siblings. 'Girls are being more deeply affected,' said Qazzaz. 'The war has pushed many out of school and into caregiving roles. Some are being forced into early marriages as families try to reduce economic burdens.' As household tensions rise, so too does gender-based violence. Experts say only a ceasefire would offer immediate relief to the women and girls of Gaza. 'Even a temporary end to the violence would offer critical psychological relief for women carrying enormous emotional and caregiving burdens,' said Qazzaz. 'It would give families a chance to breathe, regroup, and begin to heal.' A truce would also help restore access to hospitals, allow medical teams to resume work, and ensure that essential aid — from food and medicine to hygiene supplies — reaches those in need. Meanwhile, the independent UN experts have issued a stark warning about the wider implications of the conflict. 'In Gaza, the rules of engagement and fundamental protections owed to civilians have been intentionally, persistently and flagrantly violated,' they said. 'If the Security Council fails to confront this profound breakdown in compliance and accountability, and what it means for humanity and multilateralism, the very foundations of international law risk becoming meaningless."
Asharq Al-Awsat
13 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Inside the Tunnel Where Muhammad Sinwar Was Killed
By Patrick Kingsley* Two feet wide and less than six feet tall, the tunnel led deep beneath a major hospital in southern Gaza. The underground air bore the stench of what smelled like human remains. After walking some 40 yards along the tunnel, we found the likely cause. In a tiny room that the tunnel led to, the floor was stained with blood. It was here, according to the Israeli military, that Muhammad Sinwar - one of Hamas's top commanders and the younger brother of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar - was killed last month after a nearby barrage of Israeli strikes. What we saw in that dark and narrow tunnel is one of the war's biggest Rorschach tests (psychological assessment tool that uses inkblots to evaluate a person's personality), the embodiment of a broader narrative battle between Israelis and Palestinians over how the conflict should be portrayed. The military escorted a reporter from The New York Times to the tunnel on Sunday afternoon, as part of a brief and controlled visit for international journalists that the Israelis hoped would prove that Hamas uses civilian infrastructure as a shield for military activity. To Palestinians, Israel's attack on, and subsequent capture of, the hospital compound highlighted its own disregard for civilian activity. Body of Muhammad Sinwar Last month, the military ordered the hospital's staff and patients to leave the compound, along with the residents of the surrounding neighborhoods. Then, officials said, they bored a huge hole, some 10 yards deep, in a courtyard within the hospital grounds. Soldiers used that hole to gain access to the tunnel and retrieve Sinwar's body, and they later escorted journalists there so we could see what they called his final hiding place. There are no known entrances to the tunnel within the hospital itself, so we lowered ourselves into the Israeli-made cavity using a rope. To join this controlled tour, The Times agreed not to photograph most soldiers' faces or publish geographic details that would put them in immediate physical danger. To the Israelis who brought us there, this hiding place - directly underneath the emergency department of the European Gaza Hospital - is emblematic of how Hamas has consistently endangered civilians, and broken international law, by directing its military operations from the cover of hospitals and schools. Hamas has also dug tunnels underneath Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City and a UN complex elsewhere in that city. 'We were dragged by Hamas to this point,' Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the chief Israeli military spokesman, said at the hospital on Sunday afternoon. 'If they weren't building their infrastructure under the hospitals, we wouldn't be here. We wouldn't attack this hospital.' Defrin said that Israel had tried to minimize damage to the hospital by striking the area around its buildings, without a direct hit on the medical facilities themselves. 'The aim was not to damage the hospital and, as much as we could, to avoid collateral damage,' he said. Prioritize Destruction of Hamas To the Palestinians who were forced from here, the Israeli attack on Sinwar embodied Israel's willingness to prioritize the destruction of Hamas over the protection of civilian life and infrastructure, particularly the health system. According to the World Health Organization, Israel has conducted at least 686 attacks on health facilities in Gaza since the start of the war, damaging at least 33 of Gaza's 36 hospitals. Many, like the European Gaza Hospital, are now out of service, fueling accusations from rights groups and foreign governments — strongly denied by the Israelis— that Israel is engaged in genocide, in part by wrecking the Palestinian health system. 'It's morally and legally unacceptable, but Israel thinks it is above the law,' Dr. Salah al-Hams, the hospital spokesman, said in a phone interview from another part of southern Gaza. Though Israel targeted the periphery of the hospital site, leaving the hospital buildings standing, al-Hams said the strikes had wounded 10 people within the compound, damaged its water and sewage systems and dislodged part of its roof. It killed 23 people in buildings beyond its perimeter, he said, 17 more than were reported the day of the attack. The tremors caused by the strikes were like an 'earthquake,' al-Hams said. Al-Hams said he had been unaware of any tunnels beneath the hospital. Even if they were there, he said: 'This does not justify the attack. Israel should have found other ways to eliminate any wanted commander. There were a thousand other ways to do it.' Piles of Rubble Our journey to the hospital revealed much about the current dynamics of the war in Gaza. In a roughly 20-minute ride from the Israeli border, we saw no Palestinians — the result of Israel's decision to order the residents of southern Gaza to abandon their homes and head west to the sea. Many buildings were simply piles of rubble, destroyed either by Israeli strikes and demolitions or Hamas' booby-traps. Here and there, some buildings survived, more or less intact; on one balcony, someone had left a tidy line of potted cactuses. We drove in open-top jeeps, a sign that across this swath of southeastern Gaza, the Israeli military no longer fears being ambushed by Hamas fighters. Until at least the Salah al-Din highway, the territory's main north-south artery, the Israeli military seemed to be in complete command after the expansion of its ground campaign in March. The European Gaza Hospital and the tunnel beneath it are among the places that now appear to be exclusively under Israeli control. Under the laws of war, a medical facility is considered a protected site that can be attacked only in very rare cases. If one side uses the site for military purposes, that may make it a legitimate target, but only if the risk to civilians is proportional to the military advantage created by the attack. The Israeli military said it had tried to limit harm to civilians by striking only around the edges of the hospital compound. But international legal experts said that any assessment of the strike's legality needed also to take into account its effect on the wider health system in southern Gaza. In a territory where many hospitals are already not operational, experts said, it is harder to find legal justification for strikes that put the remaining hospitals out of service, even if militants hide beneath them. Sinwar and 4 Fellow Militants When we entered the tunnel on Sunday, we found it almost entirely intact. The crammed room where Sinwar and four fellow militants were said to have died was stained with blood, but its walls appeared undamaged. The mattresses, clothes and bedsheets did not appear to have been dislodged by the explosions, and an Israeli rifle — stolen earlier in the war, the soldiers said — dangled from a hook in the corner. It was not immediately clear how Sinwar was killed, and Defrin said he could not provide a definitive answer. He suggested that Sinwar and his allies may have suffocated in the aftermath of the strikes or been knocked over by a shock wave unleashed by explosions. If Sinwar was intentionally poisoned by gases released by such explosions, it would raise legal questions, experts on international law said. 'It would be an unlawful use of a conventional bomb — a generally lawful weapon — if the intent is to kill with the asphyxiating gases released by that bomb,' said Sarah Harrison, a former lawyer at the US Defense Department and an analyst at the International Crisis Group. Defrin denied any such intent. 'This is something that I have to emphasize here, as a Jew first and then as a human being: We don't use gas as weapons,' he said. In other tunnels discovered by the Israeli military, soldiers have used Palestinians as human shields, sending them on ahead to scour for traps. The general denied the practice. The tunnel was excavated by Israelis, he said. The New York Times
Al Arabiya
14 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Israeli gunfire kills 17 people near Gaza aid site: Health officials
Israeli gunfire killed at least 17 Palestinians and wounded dozens of others as thousands of displaced people approached an aid distribution site of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in central Gaza on Tuesday, local health authorities said. Medics said the casualties were rushed at two hospitals, the Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, and the Al-Quds in Gaza City, in the north. The Israeli military said they are looking into the incident. Last week it warned Palestinians not to approach routes leading to GHF sites between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. local time, describing these roads as closed military zones. There was no immediate GHF comment on Tuesday's incident. The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. However, many Gazans say they have to walk for hours to reach the sites, meaning they have to start travelling well before dawn if they are to stand any chance of receiving food. While the GHF has said there have been no incidents at its so-called secure distribution sites, Palestinians seeking aid have described disorder and access routes to the sites have been beset by chaos and deadly violence. 'I went there at 2 a.m. hoping to get some food, on my way there, I saw people returning empty-handed, they said aid packages have run out in five minutes, this is insane and isn't enough,' said Mohammad Abu Amr, 40, a father of two. 'Dozens of thousands arrive from the central areas and from the northern areas too, some of them walked for over 20 km (12 miles), only to come back home with disappointment,' he told Reuters via a chat app. He said he heard the firing but didn't see what happened. Israel allowed limited UN-led operations to resume on May 19 after an 11-week blockade in the enclave of 2.3 million people, where experts have warned a famine looms. The UN has described the aid allowed into Gaza as 'drop in the ocean.' Witnesses said at least 40 trucks carrying flour for UN warehouses were looted by desperate displaced Palestinians as well as thieves near Nabulsi roundabout along the coastal road in Gaza City. The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave.
