In Gaza, cancer has become a slow and inescapable death sentence. The last remaining intravenous chemotherapy and follow-up services have been suspended, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced, blaming a crippling blockade on medicines, medical supplies, and the total ban on patients leaving the Strip for treatment abroad.

More than 11,000 cancer patients are now left without care. Among them, at least 5,000 urgently need treatment outside Gaza a possibility now impossible due to the closure of all crossings since early March. The European Gaza Hospital, the only centre offering cancer care, was shut down following a direct attack on 13 May. Its closure has plunged the entire Strip into a deeper health crisis.

The Ministry says 64% of essential cancer medications have run out. Diagnostic tools are missing, monitoring equipment is unavailable, and the system that once offered some measure of care has collapsed. Twenty-two hospitals out of thirty-eight are no longer functioning. Even the most basic medical relief is being denied.

For cancer patients trapped in this war zone, there is no light at the end of the tunnel only suffering in silence. The health crisis in Gaza is not a by-product of war, but its deliberate weapon.