Gaza still has no hospital operating at full capacity a year after a ceasefire took effect, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said on Thursday.
The Israeli rights organisation released a report assessing the state of Gaza’s health system nearly a year after the ceasefire began in October 2025.
It said the period has not brought about a genuine recovery of the health system despite a limited increase in the number of hospitals that have partially resumed operations.
“The number of intensive care beds has practically not changed, the shortage of medicines and essential medical supplies has worsened, while thousands of patients remain deprived of life-saving treatments that are unavailable in the Strip,” the organisation said.
“In October 2025, 14 of the 36 hospitals were operating partially. Nearly a year later, the number has risen to 20, but none is still capable of operating fully,” it said.
The report added that Gaza had 103 intensive care beds in October 2025, compared with only 104 in July 2026, noting that kidney dialysis services had failed to recover.
“Dialysis services were available at 17 percent of health facilities in October 2025, falling to 12 percent in July 2026, while MRI services remain unavailable in the enclave,” it said.
The World Health Organization documented at least 143 additional attacks on health care during the first seven months of the ceasefire, it said.
The shortage of medicines and medical supplies also persisted. According to data from Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), 69 percent of medical supplies approved for entry into Gaza between January and May 2026 did not actually enter the enclave, the organisation said.
The report also highlighted the consequences of the closure of crossings and restrictions preventing Palestinians from leaving Gaza for medical treatment, saying “patients are dying while waiting for evacuation.”
“While the need for treatment is increasing, the number of people leaving for medical care is far below pre-war levels,” the report said.
Before October 2023, between 50 and 100 patients left Gaza each day to receive medical treatment, it said.
Between October 10 2025 and mid-September 2026, about 3,423 patients were evacuated abroad, a rate three to six times lower than pre-war levels despite the sharp increase in demand for treatment outside the Strip, according to the report.
According to figures from the WHO’s Health Cluster, Israeli forces killed at least 1,422 Palestinians and injured 5,150 others between the announcement of the ceasefire and the end of September 2026, the non-profit said.
More than half of Gaza dialysis patients die after three years of genocide: health chief
Meanwhile, Gaza’s health chief said that more than half of Gaza’s dialysis patients have died amid Israel’s blockade and the subsequent collapse of the enclave’s health care system during three years of genocide.
Gaza had around 1,400 dialysis patients before the genocide, but that number has now fallen to about 600, Munir al-Bursh, director general of Gaza’s health ministry, told Anadolu, attributing the decline to “deaths caused by the inability to receive regular treatment.”
More than 174,000 wounded people need nearly half a million complex surgeries, but the health care system lacks the resources to carry them out, he said.
Bursh said Israel continues to detain 88 specialist doctors, while its blockade prevents medical supplies from reaching patients in need.
According to Bursh, Gaza’s health services remain in a state of collapse despite the ceasefire.
In September, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented continued shortages of medicines for chronic illnesses, including supplies needed to treat kidney disease.
On treatment outside Gaza, Bursh said more than 20,000 patients and wounded people urgently need to leave the enclave to receive treatment.
He said “arrangements providing for the departure of around 300 patients a day have not been implemented by Israel, with only about 25 patients currently allowed to leave each day.”
UN figures released in April showed that more than 18,500 patients needed medical evacuation, including around 4,000 children.
Bursh called for “urgent international action to pressure Israel to allow medicines and equipment into Gaza, rehabilitate hospitals and allow medical personnel to return, as well as approve the evacuation of wounded people before it is too late.”
Nearly half a million complex surgeries needed
Against this backdrop, Bursh said more than 174,000 people have been wounded since the start of the genocide, with each initially requiring an average of at least three surgeries.
“This means Gaza needs nearly half a million complex surgical procedures,” he said, despite having virtually “no resources to carry them out.”
Bursh warned that Gaza’s health sector is suffering from severe shortages of medicines and medical supplies.
He said “medical stocks have reached dangerously low levels,” with shortages of 52 percent for beds and essential medicines and 56 percent for medical supplies.
“No new medical equipment has been allowed into Gaza since the start of the Israeli offensive,” he said.
