The Embassy of the State of Palestine to the Republic of India expresses its profound concern over the catastrophic collapse of the healthcare sector in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a direct result of the ongoing Israeli genocidal war, military attacks, mass destruction of medical infrastructure, severe restrictions on humanitarian access and financial strangulation measures.
On the 986th day of the ongoing Israeli genocidal war, the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip has reached an unprecedented level of devastation. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), only 19 out of 36 hospitals remain partially operational under extremely limited emergency conditions. The World Health Organization has warned that Gaza’s health system has reached a “breaking point.”
International humanitarian organizations have further reported critical shortages of anesthesia, antibiotics, dialysis supplies, blood units, surgical equipment, insulin, and fuel required to operate hospital generators. The ongoing Israeli military genocidal war has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, casualties, and injuries, overwhelming the remaining healthcare facilities, while thousands of patients continue to remain in urgent need of medical evacuation outside the Gaza Strip.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations, UNRWA, and other international humanitarian organizations, the destruction of hundreds of thousands of buildings, the continued presence of more than 12,000 bodies trapped under the rubble, the widespread destruction and uprooting of cemeteries that have left thousands of skeletons and human remains exposed on the surface, together with overcrowded displacement camps, the collapse of sanitation systems, shortages of clean water, the accumulation of waste, and the catastrophic living conditions in Gaza, have created an unprecedented humanitarian and public health catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. These conditions have also led to the increased presence of rats, snakes, and mosquitoes and triggered the rapid spread of severe skin diseases and dangerous infestations, including lice, fleas, bedbugs, and rodent-related infections, creating an environment highly vulnerable to epidemics and infectious diseases.
International reports further warn that these conditions pose a grave threat, particularly to children, the elderly, and patients suffering from weakened immune systems. The crisis has severely worsened food security, child health, and maternal care in Gaza. Thousands of children are suffering from acute malnutrition. International reports further indicate that nearly all children in Gaza now require mental health and psychosocial support.
At the same time, the Occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem is facing an escalating healthcare crisis as a result of severe Israeli financial strangulation measures, including the continued withholding of Palestinian tax revenues.
These policies have caused an unprecedented shortage in public funding, particularly affecting the Palestinian healthcare sector, upon which the vast majority of Palestinians depend as beneficiaries of public medical services.
In an attempt to address the growing humanitarian emergency, the Palestinian Government has provided tens of thousands of free health insurance policies to families who lost their sources of income during the ongoing Israeli genocidal war. This has placed enormous additional pressure on public hospitals and healthcare institutions already suffering from severe financial and logistical constraints.
The scale of the crisis is alarming. During the previous year, Palestinian governmental hospitals in the West Bank performed approximately 65,000 surgeries. However, during the current year, only around 19,500 surgeries have been carried out, while more than 11,000 scheduled surgeries have been postponed since the beginning of 2026 due to shortages in medicines, supplies, and operational capacity.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health currently seeks to provide approximately 520 essential medicines; however, nearly 180 of these medicines are now completely unavailable. Furthermore, out of 97 medicines specialized for cancer and tumor treatment, 50 are currently at zero stock levels, placing nearly 4,000 cancer patients at immediate risk.
The Ministry’s central warehouses are also experiencing severe shortages of specialized medical consumables, including dialysis filters essential for kidney patients, surgical sutures used in delicate operations such as cardiac surgeries, and numerous other life-saving medical supplies. The absence of these critical materials effectively condemns many patients to slow and preventable deaths.
Today, the Palestinian healthcare sector is in desperate need of urgent international support, including the immediate provision of life-saving, critically essential medicines and medical supplies worth 100 million USD.
The Embassy of the State of Palestine calls upon the international community, the Government of India in particular, Indian humanitarian organizations, medical institutions, civil society organizations, and all concerned parties to urgently act to support the Palestinian healthcare sector, ensure the immediate and sustained delivery of humanitarian and medical assistance, and help protect the lives and dignity of Palestinian civilians.
The Palestinian people continue to look toward the conscience of humanity and toward India’s historic commitment to justice, humanitarian values, anti-colonial principles, and support for oppressed peoples.
Recently, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, H.E. Narendra Modi, announced the “Aarogya Maitri” project, where he pledged, and I quote his words: “Under this project, India will provide essential medical supplies to any developing country affected by natural disasters or humanitarian crises.” End quote.
It is the exact moment to save thousands of innocent lives.
If not India and the Indian people; then who?
If not now; then when?
Every life matters
