Pharmacists in Gaza have warned that nearly 80% of essential medicines have vanished from pharmacy shelves, leaving patients without life-saving treatments. They blame Israel’s blockade and military campaign, which has halted the entry of medical supplies for more than six months, pushing the enclave into what many describe as a deliberate health catastrophe.

Pharmacist Dhu al-Fiqar Suwirjo said warehouses are “completely empty,” with even basic painkillers such as paracetamol nearly gone. “Patients with hypertension, diabetes, immune disorders, or infections now face only suffering or death,” he told Safa news agency. He argued that the shortages form part of a calculated strategy to make Gaza unliveable and to drive Palestinians into displacement.

Another pharmacist, Hossam al-Madhoon, confirmed that most pharmacies have been stripped of antibiotics, blood pressure drugs, diabetes treatments, and even basic medical soap. “The refusal to allow medicines into Gaza amounts to a death sentence,” he warned. “People with chronic illnesses are deteriorating before our eyes, and every passing day costs more lives.”