Dr. Alaa Helles, Director of the Pharmaceutical Care Department at the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, warned that the pharmaceutical situation in Gaza has reached dangerous levels that threaten the lives of thousands of patients and paralyze large sectors of health services.

Helles stated that “more than 51% of the Ministry of Health’s essential medicines list has reached zero stock, while the shortage of medical consumables has exceeded 65%,” a situation that results either in the deterioration of patients’ health conditions or their death in critical cases.

He added that cancer patients, cardiac catheterization patients, and open-heart surgery patients are among the most affected groups, as these services have become almost completely suspended. He explained that the shortage in medicines for oncology and blood disease services has reached 66%, while emergency, surgical, and intensive care services are suffering from a shortage of more than 40% of their essential medicines, in addition to the loss of about 29% of the medical consumables associated with these services.

Despite the ceasefire agreement being in effect, official data indicate that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza continues to worsen due to the occupation’s failure to comply with the humanitarian protocol.