Thousands of cancer patients in Gaza are facing life-threatening conditions as hospitals buckle under the strain of prolonged destruction and blockade linked to the ongoing genocidal war. Medical facilities have been damaged or rendered inoperable, leaving oncology wards overwhelmed and unable to provide even basic treatment. For many patients, survival now depends on care that no longer exists inside the territory.

Inside Gaza’s largest remaining hospitals, corridors and waiting areas are crowded with patients hoping for consultations or medicines that have long since run out. Essential drugs, diagnostic tools and pain management supplies are critically scarce, while exhausted medical staff struggle to cope with the scale of need. Patients describe constant pain, rapid deterioration and a sense that time is running out. Some report that several cancer patients die each day simply because treatment has stopped.

Families are left watching helplessly as their relatives’ conditions worsen. Many patients were approved for medical transfers abroad years ago but have been unable to leave, as crossings remain effectively closed. What might once have been treatable illnesses have progressed into advanced, often fatal stages. Health workers warn that new cancer diagnoses are rising, even as specialist services continue to shrink, deepening fears of an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe within Gaza’s health sector.