Israel’s genocide in Gaza continues, but the main weapon now is deprivation: depriving cancer patients of their vital medicines, depriving able-bodied Palestinians of any sort of livelihood, depriving the displaced of shelter against the winter weather, depriving of Gaza of reconstruction. This deprivation is graphically described in an article published in Middle East Eye on Jan. 15.
Since the war started, medical referrals outside Gaza have stopped, and hospitals in the war-battered enclave are unable to provide even minimal treatment for cancer patients, MEE reports. After two years of Israeli bombardment, much of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure and public health system has been destroyed. People had hoped the October ceasefire would bring some respite and a gradual path to recovery. But with continued Israeli restrictions on border crossings, aid, and goods, residents feel the situation has merely shifted from an intense genocide to a slower-paced one.
The Palestinian health ministry told MEE that Israeli restrictions have created critical shortages across the health system. As of November, 56% of essential drugs, 68% of medical consumables, and 67% of laboratory supplies were unavailable, the ministry said. Screening services in Gaza are also nonexistent, so cancer patients cannot know how far the disease has spread.
Dr. Muhammad Abunada, medical director of the Gaza Cancer Center, told MEE that there is a 70% shortage in cancer medications and painkillers, as Israeli authorities continue to restrict the entry of medical supplies into Gaza. “The remaining 30% are largely ineffective, because if a cancer patient needs three types of drugs, usually only one or two are available, while the others are missing,” Dr. Abunada said. “This makes the drugs they do have largely useless, because they need to be combined with the other medications.”
He added that death rates among cancer patients have doubled or even tripled since the genocide began. Before the war, one cancer patient would die per day; now, two or three die daily. “This is largely because we have no medications or treatments to offer them, while thousands urgently need medical evacuation to receive care abroad,” he said.
There’s much more, particularly the rise in infant and child mortality and the effects of weather on an exposed population of 1.5 million people, who are living in battered tents out in the open.
MEE reported separately that it had obtained a list of the 15 members of the Palestinian transitional government planned for implementation of phase 2 last October’s ceasefire agreement. It seems, however, that unless Israeli restrictions on reconstruction and rehabilitation of the population, there’s not much that the new government will be able to do to stop the ongoing genocide.
