Gaza's health care system has collapsed under the weight of ongoing Israeli bombings, leaving medical resources critically depleted and contributing to mounting casualties, according to a Palestinian doctor.
Ibrahim Elakkad, former head of the ENT department at Gaza's Nasser Medical Complex, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that both public and private health systems are teetering on the brink of complete failure.
Elakkad, who is currently in Karachi, Pakistan, while his wife recovers from eye surgery, described the situation as dire.
He explained that health facilities and medical personnel have become deliberate targets of Israeli forces.
Elakkad, whose own family was affected by last year's bombings, said: "Israeli forces are intentionally targeting health facilities and professionals to increase the death toll."
He learned during the interview that his cousin and the cousin's children had been killed in an Israeli bombing on the first day of Eid al-Fitr.
He also described how most major hospitals in Gaza are no longer functional due to relentless airstrikes.
The Nasser Medical Complex, still operating at 50% capacity, is one of the few survivors, while Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, has been reduced to minimal functionality.
The private health care sector has been wiped out entirely, with all private health centers destroyed by bombings.
Elakkad noted that most of Gaza's doctors have either fled, been killed, or are detained by Israeli forces, resulting in a severe shortage of specialists.
Doctors who remain face numerous obstacles, from inadequate equipment and essential medicine shortages to the absence of life-saving drugs, including anesthetics.
Many patients, including those with septicemia or hemorrhage, have died due to the lack of surgeons to treat them.
Crucial tools like MRI scanners are out of service, and surgeries on children with brain tumors are conducted with only CT scans, making the procedures especially difficult.
"Things are scarier than your imagination," Elakkad said, highlighting that patients are treated in hallways and even outdoors, exposing them to infections.
And even then, they are not safe, as Israeli jets often target hospitals.
Elakkad also recounted a bombing on Nasser's surgical department, which killed two wounded Palestinians, one of whom was misidentified as a Hamas member.
The most recent escalation began on March 18 with an Israeli airstrike campaign, killing over 920 people and injuring more than 2,000.
Since October 2023, over 50,250 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed, and more than 114,000 injured.
International legal authorities have taken action against Israel, with the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing arrest warrants for Israeli leaders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, while a genocide case is ongoing at the International Court of Justice.
