KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip, Palestine – In the dimly lit hallways of al-Amal Hospital in western Khan Younis, one of 17 partially operational medical facilities in Gaza, there is a rare sense of hope. Capturing staff and patients.
Mediators have announced a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel to end the 15-month war in Gaza, and although the Israeli cabinet has not yet approved the deal, optimism is contagious.
Orthopedic consultant Dr. Khaled Ayyad spoke with confidence for the first time in months, reassuring patients that urgently needed medicines and procedures would be readily available, but Israel's aid delivery to Gaza Hospitals are no longer able to provide this service due to restrictions.
“We have achieved the impossible. It took us a long time to get to this point because we had to improvise ways to deal with cases so large in scope and in so many cases.” explains Ayyad.
One month after the war began on October 7, 2023, he, along with other medical staff and patients, was ordered by the Israeli military to leave his job at the Palestine Red Crescent-run Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City. Forced. The old surgeon had been operating out of Al-Amal ever since, relying on what he called “minimum capacity.”
A January 7 report by the medical aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières, known by its French acronym MSF, said that throughout Israel's war in Gaza, “medical centers and humanitarian aid systems have been destroyed or It's being destroyed.”
Ayyad had to endure two Israeli military attacks on al-Amal hospital in February and March, and was forced to flee with his family, including six children, in the arid area of al-Mawashi in southwestern Gaza. I had to send it. He says he was lucky to survive. More than 1,000 medical workers have been killed so far, many of them in Israeli military custody.
“The number of cases I tested, in addition to hospitalized patients in each department, generated up to 70 patients and injured people per day. The number was never less than eight,” Ayyad told Al Jazeera. spoke. As he speaks, countless patients and visitors flood into the hospital's wards, and the clinics and hallways outside are filled with people seeking treatment.
patience
Ayyad explains that she often relied on temporary measures to treat fractures until the fixation plates needed for surgery were available. “It will happen soon,” he said with a wide smile, reassuring Hani al-Shakra, a patient who suffered a broken collarbone in an Israeli attack near his home in Deir el-Bala, where he had taken refuge on Monday. I let it happen.
Al-Shakra said the pain prevented him from responding to Ayyad's enthusiasm and he couldn't wait for the ceasefire to take effect so he could undergo the necessary surgery.
“In the midst of this genocide, the care I received is what should be expected, especially since everyone is facing difficulties in receiving treatment and even getting to the hospital. I am optimistic… I think we will be able to receive treatment after the ceasefire,” he said carefully, careful not to move the sling that was helping to take the weight off his arm and shoulder.
“I just hope it happens soon, before my condition worsens,” he added.
Negotiations to reach a ceasefire and end the war that has killed more than 46,700 Palestinians had stalled numerous times over the past year, until mediators announced on Wednesday that an agreement had been reached.
The ceasefire is scheduled to take effect the day before, with the effective deadline for US President Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday. This has led to severe shortages in aid supplies, which were made worse by the closure in May of the Rafah border with Egypt, where most of the supplies come in, but this has left much-needed supplies in short supply. More supplies of humanitarian aid will be allowed into the enclave.
“There's still a lot of work to do.”
Ayyad hopes the influx of humanitarian supplies will bring some respite to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but knows he and other medical staff have much work to do.
“Many of the injured patients we send out for temporary treatment will need to be re-operated appropriately as soon as supplies become available,” he said.
Dr. Adnan Al Zatma, a general surgeon who works with Dr. Ayyad, emphasizes the scale of the challenge.
Aside from the obvious lack of medical supplies and supplies, the hospital is well-maintained, from X-ray machines and generators destroyed during the Israeli invasion to burnt-out hospital wards, bullet-spattered walls, and bulldozed entrances and roads. He enumerated the devastation seen throughout. Connects to the hospital.
“A ceasefire will provide some respite, but it's not magical,” Al Zatma said.
According to Dr. Haidar al-Khudra, director general of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza, the operational capacity of the medical sector is less than 10 percent of its pre-war capacity. According to MSF, the state of the pre-war medical system was already below required levels due to Israel's 17-year blockade of Gaza. It is now falling apart.
“Tens of thousands of patients are suffering because of medical collapse,” Al-Qudra said.
“This includes death, disability and severe complications for people who did not receive proper treatment during the war,” he added, adding that facilities such as Al Amal Hospital and Al Wafa Hospital were He emphasized that it had not been operational for most of the time.
“For many patients, rehabilitation was the only path to regaining mobility and basic function. The loss of these services is devastating,” he says.
Major hospitals such as Al Quds and Al Shifa suffered heavy damage, and facilities such as Al Amal Hospital sustained significant infrastructure damage.
Despite these challenges, Red Crescent hospitals treated more than 500,000 cases and admitted an additional 900,000 patients in primary care centers during the conflict. Al-Amal Hospital alone, together with two field hospitals and 10 primary care centers in northern Gaza, handles 1,500 cases daily.
“Gradual recovery”
“Once there is a ceasefire, the health system will gradually recover with the support of international aid,” Al-Qudra said. “The Red Crescent plans to establish 30 primary care centers across Gaza, including five field hospitals and one main center in each of the five governorates, once supplies become available.”
The collaboration with international organizations such as the Red Cross and the World Health Organization is aimed at facilitating the import of medical supplies from the occupied West Bank, where Red Crescent warehouses store critical stocks. Yes, he says.
“These supplies, along with the arrival of Arab and international medical teams, will breathe life into Gaza's health system,” al-Qudra added. “Reopening hospitals in stages and improving movement across Gaza will restore some sense of normalcy. Being able to work without fear of targets will also improve the situation for medical teams.”
“The ceasefire brings a glimmer of hope to everyone. Like you, medical staff are in short supply. Health systems battered by relentless war need a chance to recover, and until recovery “We are preparing for a long journey,” he concluded.
This work was published in collaboration with Egab.
