24 Dead in Gaza and Worsening Suffering for Thousands of Cancer Patients Due to Siege

The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported the martyrdom of 24 Palestinians, including children, since dawn today due to Israeli aerial and artillery shelling on various areas in the Gaza Strip, while the occupation army claimed it carried out "precise" strikes after one of its soldiers was targeted. The latest of these targets was in Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, where an Israeli drone launched a raid on citizens, resulting in one martyr and several injured.

The Israeli occupation army claimed it targeted Bilal Abu Assi, commander of one of the elite companies in the "Al-Qassam Brigades," the armed wing of the "Hamas" movement, in the southern Gaza Strip, and alleged that Abu Assi led the infiltration operation into Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7, 2023 attack. The occupation army stated in its communiqué that targeting Abu Assi came in response to firing at Israeli army forces in the northern Gaza Strip, which resulted in a serious injury to an officer.

For its part, the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" condemned the occupation's escalation in the Gaza Strip, considering it a "continuation of the war of extermination and disruption" of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, foremost among which is the opening of the Rafah crossing. The movement said that the occupation's claims regarding firing at one of its soldiers are a pretext to continue the aggression, demanding that the international community pressure it to respect its obligations.

On the humanitarian front, UNRWA stated that 20,000 people are in urgent need of medical care in the Gaza Strip. In this context, the suffering of cancer patients in Gaza is worsening; their illness has doubled with the conditions of war amid the lack of treatment and the loss of minimal healthcare, as displaced Basma Abu Obaid recounts in an interview with media sources.

More than 11,000 cancer patients cannot find medicine or painkillers, as the occupation pursued oncology centers, and after the destruction of their specialized Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital and their displacement from one place to another, they ended up in a small room inside the Nasser Medical Complex.

Saleh Sheikh Al-Eid, head of the oncology department at the Gaza Cancer Center, told media sources that the medical team diagnoses patients theoretically only due to the absence of necessary equipment for accurate diagnosis, and Al-Eid also points to the absence of necessary medicines for treating patients.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 3,000 cancer patients need urgent treatment outside the Strip. During the war, many patients died, and others will die if the crossings remain closed. Estimates by local and international institutions indicate that the improvement of the health situation for cancer patients and others with chronic diseases is linked to the rehabilitation of what the war destroyed.

The medical team diagnoses patients theoretically only due to the absence of necessary equipment for accurate diagnosis and essential medicines.