Israel Destroys Gaza Cancer Hospital, Restricts Access as Deaths Surge Threefold

Palestinian cancer patients in the Gaza Strip are now dying at two to three times the rate recorded before the war, as the territory's only specialized cancer treatment facility lies in ruins and Israel continues to restrict the movement of patients seeking care abroad. An estimated 17,000 cancer patients currently have no access to local treatment following the destruction of the hospital, leaving chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgical oncology services effectively unavailable inside Gaza. Among the facilities lost is the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in Gaza City, which had served as the territory's principal cancer center before being bombed and later demolished during the war, eliminating what humanitarian organizations had described as Gaza's last functioning cancer unit. With no domestic alternative, patients depend entirely on medical evacuation through Gaza's crossings to receive treatment outside the territory. Israel continues to restrict access to these crossings, according to the report, despite ceasefire terms that call for free movement of civilians, including those in need of urgent medical care. The result is a widening gap between diagnosis and treatment for thousands of patients, many of whom face rapidly progressing disease with no functioning referral pathway. The crisis adds to a broader collapse of Gaza's healthcare system over the course of the war, during which hospitals, clinics and specialized units have been repeatedly struck or rendered inoperable, compounding shortages of medicine, fuel and trained staff. Qatar, which has positioned itself as a lead mediator in ceasefire negotiations and a major humanitarian donor to Gaza, has repeatedly called for guaranteed medical evacuation corridors and unimpeded humanitarian access as part of any lasting arrangement. Doha has also funded field hospitals and medical missions to the territory throughout the conflict. Rights groups continue to press for the reopening of exit routes for cancer patients, warning that further delays will translate directly into preventable deaths among a population already facing acute shortages of basic medical care.