For Honey Naeem, waiting is not a cure, but a permission to save one’s life.
Naeem, who has been suffering from cancer for six years, was approved for treatment abroad. But like thousands of others, he is trapped in Gaza, barred from leaving by tightening Israeli restrictions.
“I used to get treatment in the West Bank and Jerusalem,” Naim told Al Jazeera’s Tarek Abu Ajjoum. “Today, I can’t access any treatment. I need radiotherapy, and it doesn’t exist in Gaza anymore.”
Naeem is one of the 11,000 cancer patients currently trapped in the enclave, where health services have completely collapsed.
According to doctors, cancer-related deaths have tripled since October 2023, when Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began. With no chemotherapy, radiotherapy and no way out, a cancer diagnosis has become an instant death sentence for many.
A ‘Ghost Hospital’
At the center of this crisis is the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital. Once the only facility providing specialized oncology care in the Gaza Strip, it now stands as a hollow shell.
“It looks like a ghost hospital after it was converted into a military space during the war,” reported Abu Azzum. “The Israeli army blew it up and left the patients to fend for themselves.”
With the main facility destroyed, doctors have been forced to move to makeshift clinics with zero resources.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Mubashar, Mohammed Abu Nada, medical director of the Gaza Cancer Center, described a situation of complete helplessness.
“We have lost everything,” Abu Nada said. “We lost the only hospital capable of diagnosing and treating cancer… We are now in the Nasser Medical Complex, but unfortunately, we have no equipment to diagnose the disease and we have no chemotherapy.”
‘Chocolate is not medicine’
Despite a recent cease-fire agreement that allowed aid in the Strip, essential medical supplies are blocked.
Abu Nada dismissed claims that aid was flowing freely, noting that some commercial goods had entered, but not life-saving medicines.
“They brought chocolate, nuts and chips … but chronic disease treatments, cancer treatments and diagnostic equipment have not come at all,” he said.
“This is just propaganda,” he added. “We appealed to the World Health Organization … if we are not allowed to leave, at least give us treatment. But instead we have run out of what we had.”
Abu Nada estimated that 60 to 70 percent of cancer protocols are completely unavailable. Because chemotherapy often requires a specific sequence of drugs, missing even one component can render the entire treatment ineffective.
Palliative care is also failing. Painkillers – essential to manage the pain of advanced cancer – are now being rationed.
“We try to prioritize,” Abu Nada explained. “Those with extensive cancer are given something, and those who are still on safe ground … we don’t give them anything.”
A silent killer
The human toll of this shortage is huge. Abu Nada revealed that two to three cancer patients die every day in Khan Yunis area alone.
As a result, the cancer spreads like wildfire in the patient’s body. “We’ve gone back 50 years in cancer treatment.”
Currently, 3,250 patients have official referrals for treatment abroad, but cannot cross the border due to the closure of the Rafah crossing and the Israeli ban on medical migration.
For the rest of the medical staff, the psychological burden is enormous.
“Some experts have left Gaza,” Abu Nada said. “But for those who remain, what use is a doctor without tools?”
“Doctors have no choice but to sit and weep with this patient who is denied treatment and denied travel.”