A doctor returned to Gaza after 665 days in Israeli prison. This is what he found

“When I saw what had happened to Gaza, I felt my chest tighten. Everything I remembered was gone,” he said.

Hospitals hollowed out

When Dr Muhanna returned to al-Awda Hospital, he found a facility stripped of staff, equipment and medicines. According to a Guardian report, 75 of his colleagues from the hospital were killed while he was in detention. Across Gaza, the toll on medical workers has been severe. According to the advocacy group Healthcare Workers Watch, more than 1,200 Palestinian health professionals have been killed since the war began and hundreds more have been detained.

Despite a ceasefire that is formally still in place, doctors say the healthcare system is being pushed to breaking point by disease, malnutrition and a lack of essential treatment.

“We are treating patients in a system that has been deliberately broken. People are dying not because their conditions are untreatable, but because we no longer have the tools to treat them,” Muhanna said.

International agencies warn that Gaza’s humanitarian crisis remains severe. The World Health Organization estimates that more than three-quarters of the population, including around 100,000 children, are facing acute food insecurity. Doctors report a surge in severely malnourished children arriving at hospitals with weakened immune systems, organ failure, and life-threatening infections.

These cases are becoming increasingly difficult to manage because Gaza lacks even basic medical infrastructure. According to the UN human rights office, 94 per cent of Gaza’s hospitals have been damaged or destroyed during the war. Newborn babies, cancer patients and people with chronic illnesses are among the most vulnerable.

“There is no margin left in this system. Every shortage becomes a death sentence,” said Muhanna.

Equipment missing in Gaza hospitals

One of the most alarming consequences of the war is the loss of advanced diagnostic and treatment tools. Dr Muhanna says there is now not a single functioning MRI scanner in Gaza and only one working CT scanner. Dialysis machines are scarce, leading to a growing number of kidney failure deaths, while cancer patients are unable to receive chemotherapy or radiation as their tumours continue to spread.

Without imaging equipment, doctors are often forced to make life-or-death decisions based on guesswork. “We are flying blind. You cannot practise modern medicine without diagnostic tools,” Muhanna said.

The crisis is expected to deepen further after Israel announced it would revoke the operating licences of dozens of international aid organisations working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Among those affected are major medical charities such as Médecins Sans Frontières, which have played a critical role in keeping Gaza’s hospitals running.

Human rights groups and UN investigators have accused Israel of systematically dismantling Gaza’s healthcare system and blocking humanitarian aid, The Guardian reported.  A UN commission has said Israel’s actions may amount to genocide, citing the destruction of hospitals and the restriction of food, medicine and fuel.

Israeli authorities deny these accusations saying their military actions target Hamas and that aid restrictions are based on security concerns.

For doctors like Dr Muhanna, the political arguments feel far removed from the daily reality inside Gaza’s wards.

“We are watching patients die from infections, dehydration, cancer and kidney failure because we do not have what we need to treat them. This is not a natural disaster. This is a man-made collapse of healthcare,” he said.