Gaza's breast cancer patients face immediate mastectomies as doctors plead for end to blockade
Physicians and health professionals in Gaza marked 1,000 days of genocide on Thursday with a plea for international pressure to lift Israel's nearly two-decade blockade, as well as its ban on critical medical supplies for Palestinians that even include chlorine bleach to disinfect hospitals.
In a virtual call hosted by the global non-profit Doctors Against Genocide, a slate of experts described conditions that can barely sustain the healthiest residents of Gaza, let alone those who are elderly, disabled, or with illnesses that predate the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, and the subsequent genocide in Gaza.
Israel's assault has so far killed 1,700 medical workers, wholly or partly destroyed 38 hospitals, and hit nearly 200 ambulances in the enclave, the Gaza health ministry has said.
Women with breast cancer are undergoing immediate mastectomies because it's the fastest way to save their lives when there are no deeper diagnostic tools or cancer drugs, Dr Ahmed Shatat, director general of International Cooperation and Planning in Gaza, said on the call.
"Previously, we were holding seven MRI machines. Now we have not even one MRI machine - zero - in the Gaza Strip," he added.
Read more: Gaza's breast cancer patients face immediate mastectomies as doctors plead for end to blockade
A man looks over the shrouded body of Palestinian child Malik Abu Shawish, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on 29 June 2026 (Mahmoud Issa/Reuters)