Hospitals – the last line of defense in Gaza: when doctors become victims

In the heart of Gaza, where the sounds of explosions mingle with the cries of the wounded, hospitals stand as the last bastions trying to protect civilians from death. But these bastions are no longer safe; they have become direct targets for Israel, while doctors and nurses fight with nothing but their expertise and their hearts.

In hospitals, amid destroyed walls and blood-stained floors, stories of true resilience are being written, no less powerful than the heroism of the fighters.

Despite the constant bombing, hospitals continue to operate 24 hours a day, sometimes without electricity, sometimes without medicine, in a continuous attempt to save those who can be saved. Every operating room tells a story of a new daily challenge, every corridor is filled with the voices of children and patients, and every doctor faces death himself as he tries to keep others alive.

Doctors without protection, nurses exhausted in Gaza

At Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr. Ahmed told the Canary:

We sometimes perform operations without full anesthesia, sometimes using old, worn-out tools. Every child’s cry here breaks my heart, but we have no choice but to continue.

The hospital has been bombed several times in recent weeks, and doctors have sometimes been forced to work amid partial rubble, crouching on the floor during operations or shielding their patients with their bodies.

Nurses stand for hours without rest, carrying the wounded on their shoulders and transporting them between the hospital’s bustling wards.

Um Samer, a 20-year-old nurse, says:

Sometimes I cry silently in the corridors, but I can’t leave anyone behind. Every patient here is my family now, and every heart beating in front of me is a reason for me to keep going.

Most of the medical staff no longer have safe homes and often sleep in the hospital, next to patients or in the corridors, while they hear explosions outside and are unable to protect themselves.

Behind the news

Despite all this, doctors and nurses in Gaza insist on conveying hope. They not only save the wounded, but also preserve the dignity of patients amid the chaos, calming children, providing food and blankets, and reassuring patients that they are not alone.

Hospitals in Gaza are not just places of treatment, but symbols of resilience. Doctors and nurses, who have become victims before they are saviors, write stories of true heroism every day.

In every operating room, in every corridor, in every heart they save, Gaza proves that life can endure despite all the instruments of death, and that humanity does not die even in the darkest circumstances.

The destruction of hospitals in Gaza was not just a loss of buildings and equipment, but a complete collapse of the health sector on which hundreds of thousands of civilians depend. Doctors and nurses are now working under direct threat, amid a constant shortage of medicines and supplies, while emergency rooms have become tragic theaters where life and death struggle for every moment. Every rescue operation has become a battle, and every patient is a test of the health system’s ability to withstand the machinery of war.

Feature image via the Canary