Palestinian doctors hope ceasefire will revive Gaza’s devastated hospitals | News about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Palestine – In the dimly lit corridors of al-Amal Hospital in western Khan Younis, one of 17 partially operational health institutions in Gazaa rare sense of hope grips the staff and patients.

The mediators announced a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel to end the 15-month war in Gaza, and while the Israeli government has yet to approve the deal, optimism is contagious.

For the first time in several months, orthopedic consultant dr. Khaled Ayyad speaks with confidence as he assures patients that they will soon receive the drugs and procedures they urgently need, which hospitals have been unable to provide due to Israeli restrictions on aid delivery to Gaza.

“We did the impossible. We had to improvise ways to handle such serious cases and such a large number and for the longest time to get this far,” explains Ayyad.

Along with other medical staff and patients, he was forced by the Israeli army to leave his post at the Palestinian Red Crescent-run al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City a month after the war began on October 7, 2023. The 53-year-old surgeon has since operated from al-Amala, relying on what he describes as “minimum abilities”.

During Israel’s war on Gaza, “every medical center or humanitarian delivery system has been or is being destroyed,” according to a Jan. 7 report by the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym, MSF.

Ayyad had to endure two Israeli attacks on al-Amal hospital in February and March and had to cope with displacement in the arid al-Mawasi area of ​​southwestern Gaza along with his family, including six children. He says he is lucky to have survived: more than 1,000 health workers were killed, many detained by Israeli forces.

“The number of cases I examined was up to 70 patients and injured people per day in addition to hospitalized cases in the wards, which is no less than eight cases,” Ayyad told Al Jazeera. As he speaks, countless patients and visitors crowd the hospital wards while the outside clinics and corridors are packed with those seeking care.

Patience

Ayyad explains how he often resorted to temporary measures to treat fractures until the fixation plates needed for surgery became available. “It will be soon,” he says with a big smile, reassuring Hani al-Shaqr, a patient whose collarbone was broken Monday in an Israeli attack near the house in Deir el-Balah where he had sought refuge.

Unable to reciprocate Ayyad’s enthusiasm because of his pain, al-Shaqra says he cannot wait for the truce to take effect so he can undergo the surgery he needs.

“In the midst of this genocide, the care I received was expected, especially since everyone faces great difficulty in getting treatment or even getting to hospitals. I’m optimistic… that treatment is possible after the ceasefire,” he says, speaking carefully, careful not to move his hand or the strap that helps lift the weight off his shoulders.

“I just hope it happens soon before my condition worsens,” he adds.

Negotiations to achieve a ceasefire and end the war that was killing more than 46,700 Palestinians had failed repeatedly over the past year until mediators announced Wednesday that a deal had been reached.

Donald Trump’s inauguration as president of the United States on Monday served as a de facto deadline, with the truce set to take effect a day earlier. It will allow larger supplies of much-needed humanitarian aid to enter the enclave after a huge shortfall in aid deliveries, exacerbated by the closure of the Rafah crossing with Egypt in May, through which most supplies arrived.

‘Still a lot of work to do’

While Ayyad hopes the influx of humanitarian supplies will bring respite for Palestinians in Gaza, he knows he and other medical staff will have a lot of work to do.

“Many of the wounded we sent for temporary treatment will have to be operated on again, properly, when supplies are available,” he says.

dr. Adnan al-Zatma, a general surgeon who works alongside Ayyad, emphasizes the enormity of the challenge.

Leaving aside the obvious shortage of medicine and supplies, he lists the devastation seen around the hospital: from X-ray machines and power generators destroyed during the Israeli invasion to burned wards, riddled walls and bulldozed entrances and roads leading to the hospital.

“A ceasefire would be a respite, but it won’t be magical,” says al-Zatma.

According to dr. According to Haidar al-Qudra, executive director of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza, the health sector is operating at less than 10 percent of its pre-war capacity. The state of the pre-war health system was already below what was needed, according to MSF, due to Israel’s 17-year blockade of Gaza. Now it’s in shambles.

“Tens of thousands of patients suffered because of the collapse of health care,” says al-Qudra.

“This includes deaths, disabilities and severe complications for those who could not receive proper care during the war,” he added, stressing that facilities such as al-Amal Hospital and al-Wafaa Hospital were not operating for most of the war.

“For many patients, rehabilitation was the only way to regain mobility or basic functions. The loss of these services was catastrophic,” he says.

Major hospitals such as al-Quds and al-Shifa were severely damaged, and facilities such as al-Amal Hospital suffered significant infrastructural damage.

Despite these challenges, Red Crescent hospitals treated more than 500,000 cases and received an additional 900,000 patients in their primary care centers during the conflict. Al-Amal Hospital alone handles 1,500 cases a day in addition to two field hospitals and 10 primary care centers in northern Gaza.

‘Gradual recovery’

“A ceasefire would bring about a gradual recovery of the health system, supported by international aid,” al-Qudra says. “The Red Crescent plans to establish five field hospitals across Gaza and 30 primary health care centers, including one main center in each of the five governorates” once the supplies are available.

Coordination with international organizations such as the Red Cross and the World Health Organization aims to facilitate the entry of medical supplies from the occupied West Bank, where Red Crescent warehouses hold critical supplies, he says.

“These supplies, along with the arrival of Arab and international medical teams, will breathe life into Gaza’s health system,” added al-Qudra. “Reopening hospitals, even gradually, and improving mobility across Gaza will restore some sense of normalcy. Being able to work without fear of being targeted will also improve conditions for medical teams.”

“The truce offers a glimmer of hope for everyone. Like everyone else, the medical staff is exhausted. The health system, hit by a merciless war, needs a chance to recover and is ready for a long road to recovery”, he concludes.

This work was published in collaboration with Egab.