“I Am Just Waiting to Die”: Gaza’s Cancer Patients Perish as Israel Strangles Medical Care
With Gaza’s only cancer hospital reduced to rubble and evacuation routes sealed, treatable diseases have become death sentences.
Cancer deaths in Gaza have surged to two to three times the pre-war rate, as the Zionist entity leaves thousands of patients trapped without chemotherapy, specialised treatment, or any viable route out of the besieged Strip, Palestinian doctors told Reuters.
Doctors now record between three and five cancer deaths every day, compared with roughly one to two before the war. The figures expose yet another devastating dimension of the Israeli genocide: patients suffering from potentially treatable diseases are being left to deteriorate while the facilities that once cared for them lie in ruins, and access to hospitals abroad remains heavily restricted.
The Destruction of Gaza’s Only Cancer Hospital
At the center of the crisis is the destruction of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, Gaza’s only specialised cancer facility. The Israeli occupation demolished the hospital in a controlled explosion in March 2025, claiming—without credible evidence—that its forces had uncovered a tunnel used by Hamas beneath the site.
The demolition stripped an estimated 17,000 cancer patients of Gaza’s only dedicated center for chemotherapy and advanced treatment. Israeli attacks have also killed highly trained medical personnel, including specialists who worked at the hospital before its destruction.
“I Am Just Waiting to Die”
For Palestinians whose survival depends on treatment abroad, securing permission to leave Gaza has become a prolonged and potentially deadly ordeal. Around 20,000 patients are registered for treatment outside the Strip but have not yet been able to leave—about 5,000 of them cancer patients. Since the limited reopening of Rafah in February, fewer than half the number expected under the ceasefire arrangement have crossed.
Khuloud Abu Sahmoud, a 33-year-old mother of two with advanced ovarian cancer, has been waiting since last October to leave Gaza for treatment. While she waits, the cancer has spread to her lungs and bones.
“Every day my disease progresses, and my condition is tragic. My fingernails have all fallen out – I have none left. I am just waiting to die,” she said.
A Health System Reduced to Rubble
Most hospitals across the Strip have been destroyed or damaged, while those still operating have lost as much as 70% of essential medical supplies, including medicines, diagnostic equipment, and materials required for cancer care.
“We have been recording a significant number of deaths, ranging from three to five daily, because patients are not receiving the chemotherapy needed to save their lives,” said Mohamed Abu Selmia, director of Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital.
Surgeon Sobhi Skaik, former head of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, warned that the true scale of the crisis may be far greater. Gaza had around 11,000 registered cancer patients before the war, but Skaik estimates another 6,000 Palestinians may have developed cancer since. Without functioning screening programs or laboratories, many may not discover they are ill until their disease has reached an advanced stage—if they are diagnosed at all.
Skaik also warned that toxic substances released by the enormous volume of US-supplied Israeli explosives used across Gaza could be contributing to future cancer cases.
“Some people can be treated if diagnosed in early stages, but they are wandering around the tents sick, unaware, and with no help,” he said.
The systematic dismantling of Gaza’s healthcare is not a byproduct of war—it is a deliberate policy of extermination. As the world watches, the Zionist entity continues to turn treatable diseases into death sentences, proving that the blockade itself is a weapon of genocide.
Reference: Al-Mayadeen