Healthcare

The collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system played a key role in the unprecedented humanitarian crisis from the very beginning of the war. The health catastrophe escalated during the war’s second year, as hospitals were bombed and medical teams and emergency services were targeted. Additionally, the extensive restrictions Israel imposed on the entry of humanitarian aid led to acute shortages of medicines, equipment, medical devices, and fuel.

Figures

According to UN figures, as of October 5, 2025 there are no functional hospitals in northern Gaza. In other areas, only 39% (14 out of 36) of hospitals are functioning, all partially and with extremely high occupancy rates; for example, in August 2025, the occupancy rate at Shifaa Hospital was reported at 300%. Of the field hospitals, 63% (10 out of 16) are functioning, also only partially, and just 35% (62 out of 169) of clinics are operational, again only in a limited capacity. Meanwhile, only 30 emergency medical teams, international and local, were serving Gaza’s entire population.

More than 15,600 critical patients, including 3,800 children, require evacuation abroad. Nonetheless, between early 2025 and September 29, only 2,405 sick and wounded had been evacuated.

Even with the end of hostilities, mortality rates and the sharp decline in average life expectancy are expected to persist. The major damage to healthcare infrastructure, coupled with mass hunger and the spread of disease, including infectious illnesses, and the collapse of care systems, will likely continue claiming lives for years to come. High mortality rates from diseases that would normally be treatable, such as certain cancers, heart disease, kidney disease, and diabetes, are expected to continue. The psychological impact of the war is also expected to reverberate for generations, diminishing the capacity of individuals, families, and communities to function and undermining quality of life.

Even if it were to begin immediately, the restoration of Gaza’s healthcare system will take years, during which time residents will have limited access to medical services.

At the time that the ceasefire went into effect, medical facilities in Gaza were suffering from extreme shortages of medications and equipment, including basic supplies such as needles and disinfectants. At a minimum, and in accordance with international law, Israel has a duty to enable the regular entry, in sufficient quantities, of necessary medical equipment and drug supplies to meet the basic needs of the population and to ensure access to healthcare.

Targeting of healthcare systems and crews

The destruction and collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system are not just collateral damage or a byproduct of military activity. They are the result of consistent, multi-pronged actions: direct attacks on hospitals; military incursions into medical facilities; arrests and killings of healthcare staff; the prevention of the supply of fuel, medication, and medical equipment; and the disruption of evacuation and patient transfer systems. These measures initially impacted the most vulnerable: children and cancer patients who were left untreated, as well as pregnant women and newborns. However, ongoing harm has extended to the entire population. Infectious diseases have spread due to lack of clean water and poor sanitation, with no medical solutions available. The collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system and the shutdown of vital services such as water, sanitation, and shelter have created a vicious cycle of infectious disease and malnutrition, overwhelming the capacities of the remaining hospitals.

The damage inflicted on Gaza’s healthcare system constitutes a grave violation of the right to health and, in many respects, the right to life as well, especially when considered in conjunction with other serious and sustained harm to living conditions in Gaza, such as the destruction of water, electricity, and housing infrastructure, and starvation due to blocked food supply. The living conditions imposed on Gaza’s residents throughout the war raise concerns of genocide.

There is a direct link between the destruction of the healthcare system and the regular, targeted attacks on medical staff. Since October 2023, more than 1,580 healthcare professionals have been killed, including many senior physicians and hospital directors. Members of Gaza’s medical community have been systematically detained, abused, and villainized. During the attacks on Gaza, over 300 medical staff were detained without charges and subjected to degrading treatment and torture. According to Physicians for Human Rights Israel, more than one hundred remain in custody. These violations have depleted Gaza’s medical force, pushed the healthcare system to collapse, and significantly undermined prospects for future recovery.

For further reading, see:PHRI  (Physicians for Human Rights – Israel), Destruction of Conditions of Life: A health analysis of the Gaza genocidePHRI, Torture of Medical Staff from Gaza in Israel • Report and Testimonies

The impact of displacement from Gaza City

In August 2025, Israel began taking steps toward a ground takeover of Gaza City, where most of the remaining partially-operational hospitals were located. The city’s population, including hospital patients and staff, was ordered to evacuate. This demand would not only have been a dangerous move towards mass forced transfer in Gaza, it was also impractical and, if implemented, would have led to the deaths of the sick and wounded, as had occurred in other parts of the Strip.

In practice, several hospitals in the city were damaged and shut down, but the ceasefire ultimately obviated the need for a full evacuation. Nevertheless, the last three hospitals in Gaza City, Shifaa, al-Quds, and al-Ahli, were pushed to the brink of collapse, and forced to operate with shortages of medications, equipment, and fuel for incubators, ventilators, and ambulances.

Reproductive violence

Since October 2023, motherhood in Gaza has become life-threatening. Over the course of two years of war and even after the ceasefire, women and infants have been forced to survive amid malnutrition, a lack of clean water, and the absence of basic hygiene, all of which increase the risks of preterm births, maternal and infant mortality, and infectious diseases.

The collapse of gynecological, maternity, and neonatal care units, as well as critical shortages of medicines and fuel and blocked medical evacuations within and out of the Strip have forced many women to deliver without medical assistance or sanitary conditions. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the birthrate in the first half of 2025 alone dropped 41% compared to the same period in 2022, and 30% of babies were born preterm, underweight, or required admission to neonatal intensive care. The units that remained open operated at just 30% capacity due to major shortages in equipment and medicines. Doctors of the World reported that as of August 2025, 85% of the pregnant women they examined were at risk of complications, and 35% of pregnant or breastfeeding women suffered from malnutrition.

Testimonies collected by PHRI reveal that women are giving birth amid ongoing displacement, in tents and crowded camps, often with little to no access to medical or family support and without basic supplies such as diapers for newborns. Even in hospitals, women sometimes give birth without sterile equipment or medication.

To read PHRI’s report Mothers under Fire, November 2025 (publication pending), visit PHRI’s website.

Obstruction of medical evacuation from Gaza

For many patients and wounded individuals, evacuation for medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip is lifesaving. At the end of September 2025, the World Health Organization reported that around 15,600 Gazans, many of them children, needed critical care unavailable in the Strip and were waiting for evacuation. But the actual number of people evacuated is extremely low. From the beginning of the war until the end of September 2025, only 7,841 of the sick and wounded were evacuated.

Before the war, the vast majority of Gazans needing medical treatment outside the Strip were referred to hospitals in the West Bank and Israel, but this option has been blocked by Israel since the war began. Israel also conditions evacuation on coordination with third countries, should they agree to receive the patients and their escorts. With the ceasefire in effect, the World Health Organization hopes to step up evacuations to 50 patients per day or more, but stresses that given the bureaucratic, logistical, and economic obstacles, there is an urgent need to restore access to medical care in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as to grant permits for travel to third countries.