Daijiworld Media Network - Deir el-Balah
Deir el-Balah, Nov 16: Gaza’s shattered health system continues to reel under the weight of Israel’s two-year war, with hospitals repeatedly targeted and medical workers killed, forcing untrained students to step in as frontline healers.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than 1,700 healthcare workers—including doctors, nurses and paramedics—have been killed since the war began. The United Nations has accused Israel of deliberately attacking hospitals and medical teams in an attempt to break the enclave’s entire healthcare system.
Even after a month-old ceasefire, essential medical supplies remain blocked, leaving hospitals dangerously short of equipment as thousands of wounded continue to pour in.
With senior doctors killed, displaced or exhausted from nonstop shifts, Gaza’s medical students have stepped into roles far beyond their training. They now perform lifesaving procedures, treating multiple critical patients each day under extreme danger and severe shortages.
“The war in Gaza has rewritten the rules of learning and healing,” reported Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum from Deir el-Balah, highlighting the story of Eman Eyad, a medical student who effectively became a doctor inside a war zone.
Eyad was completing her studies at the Islamic University until Israel bombed and destroyed the campus on October 10, 2023. Yet, she continued her training in the ruins of Gaza’s hospitals.
“I get more experience. I can deal with 10 patients a day, or more. I go to surgery and I am second surgeon,” Eyad said. “The war makes me more powerful, more experienced.”
Her hospital, al-Shifa, faced repeated assaults. Israeli forces besieged the complex in November 2023, alleging—without concrete evidence—that Hamas operated a command centre inside. A second major raid followed in March 2024. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have called Israel’s evidence inconclusive, while hospital administrators and Hamas denied the claims.
“With senior doctors killed or displaced, young students like Eyad stood to defend against the relentless tide of death,” Abu Azzoum reported.
“We have a new generation of doctors working as colleagues, helping us treat patients in overwhelmed hospitals,” said Dr. Hani al-Faleet, a senior paediatrician at al-Shifa.
Amid the devastation, Gaza’s medical personnel continue their duty even while enduring personal tragedy.
Nurse Islam Abu Assar, who worked through the siege at al-Shifa, said she refused to leave her post even when her own family fled south.
Her voice broke as she described learning that her brother had been killed.
“I never expected that one day I would receive my brother as a martyr,” she said. “It was the most difficult moment of my life.”
Despite her grief, Abu Assar continued to work and sleep inside the hospital.
“I remained steadfast and kept working until my last breath,” she said. “I stayed to provide care because of the shortage of medical personnel.”
Gaza’s doctors, students and nurses say they will continue their fight to save lives—even as the health system they serve stands on the brink of collapse.