Al Mezan: Cancer Patients in Gaza Are Dying Without Care, Urgent Action Needed to Restore Local Healthcare System

Gaza, 4 February 2025 — Today, on World Cancer Day, Al Mezan remembers the countless Palestinians who have lost their lives to cancer—part of the unaccounted victims of Israel’s genocide in Gaza—over the past 16 months due to Israel’s calculated destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system and the denial of access to essential treatment to prevent and treat cancer.

The deliberate targeting of Palestinian medical facilities by the Israeli military, including the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital—the only facility in all of Gaza providing limited cancer treatment to a population of 2.3 million—and the total closure of Gaza imposed by the Israeli government have incapacitated the local healthcare system, depriving cancer patients of life-saving care, early detection, and vital medications. As the world marks this day to advocate for cancer prevention and treatment, we bear witness to this ongoing injustice and call for urgent international action to restore the fundamental right to healthcare for Palestinians in Gaza.

On 30 October 2023, the Israeli military carried out a targeted attack on the third floor of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, located south of Gaza City and near the Netzarim Corridor. As a result of the attack and the lack of fuel and other essential supplies, the hospital ran out of service on 1 November 2023. Medical staff and patients were forcibly evacuated, leaving behind critical medical equipment and supplies.

After forcing the evacuation of medical staff and patients, Israeli tanks and bulldozers advanced into the hospital grounds, demolishing its main gates, bulldozing outer walls, and erecting sand barriers around the facility. Having seized the hospital, Israeli forces transformed it into a military base and observation post, maintaining control over it until their full withdrawal on 26 January 2025, several days after the Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect. Before withdrawing, Israeli forces purposefully set fire to the hospital, destroying medical equipment, medications, hospital beds, computers, and administrative tools, rendering the facility inoperable.

During a field visit to the hospital facility on 1 February 2025, Al Mezan’s team witnessed and documented the extensive devastation. Basem Abu Jray, a researcher at Al Mezan, described the scene: “Smoke was still rising from some sections, and the smell of burning lingered in areas we could not access. Walls and ceilings were blackened by fire, and specialized medical equipment, hospital beds, and entire sections—particularly the pharmacy—were completely burned. Israeli soldiers inscribed slogans, words, and symbols on the walls of hospital departments, patient rooms, and medical equipment. In some areas, piles of garbage covered parts of the building.”

Since 2020, the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital has been an essential support system for cancer patients in Gaza. Its destruction has left these patients without necessary treatment, putting their lives in grave danger. Many, already forcibly displaced from their likely destroyed homes, are now sheltering in areas lacking even the most basic necessities, further worsening their plight. The healthcare crisis is further compounded by deteriorating environmental conditions, including increased pollution. Severe shortages of clean water, nutritious food, and other essentials have further weakened patients, especially those with compromised immune systems, making their struggle for survival even more dire.

Dr. Mohammad Abu Nada, the Acting Director of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, stressed that the lives of 13,000 patients continue to be at risk amid the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system. The near-total breakdown of cancer diagnosis and monitoring services has left them without essential medical equipment, much of which was abandoned during the forced evacuation of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital. Additionally, the forced displacement of cancer patients has severely disrupted their access to treatment. Many have struggled to find alternative care facilities after being relocated to southern Gaza, where communication blackouts and skyrocketing transportation costs have made reaching medical services nearly impossible. The crisis is further exacerbated by severe shortages of chemotherapy drugs and painkillers. Additionally, the closure of the Rafah Crossing in May 2024—Gaza’s main passage for patients seeking medical treatment abroad following the complete closure of the Erez Crossing to Palestinians—has had devastating consequences. Before May 2024, approximately 6,000 cancer patients had secured medical referrals, yet only 1,500 were able to leave, leaving thousands stranded without access to critical, life-saving care.

On World Cancer Day, Al Mezan strongly condemns Israel’s deliberate destruction of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital and the systematic targeting of Gaza’s healthcare system. We urge the international community to take immediate action to support Palestinian cancer patients by pressuring Israel to lift restrictions on healthcare access and freedom of movement for both persons and goods by ensuring the delivery of life-saving medical supplies and facilitating patient travel for treatment. Additionally, Al Mezan calls for the urgent rehabilitation of Gaza’s healthcare system—including hospitals, water, sanitation, and electricity services—to prevent further humanitarian catastrophe.