Israel’s continued assault on Gaza has led to the near-total collapse of its healthcare system, according to United Nations officials and humanitarian organizations, who warn that Palestinians now have “zero” options for medical care. The destruction includes repeated bombings of hospitals, systematic targeting of healthcare workers, and the execution of paramedics whose bodies were later buried in mass graves by Israeli forces.
Earlier this week, the Al-Ahli Hospital—the last remaining operational medical facility in northern Gaza—was struck by Israeli forces. Witnesses said that although Israel had issued an evacuation order, the time between the warning and the strike was so short that patients had little chance to escape. The attack rendered the hospital inoperable and forced the evacuation of all patients, including a child who died due to a lack of oxygen and others whose conditions worsened as they were displaced.
UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, said in a statement on Thursday that the attack had made “the provision of health services even more impossible in a system that has already been brought to its knees.” She added, “With this latest attack on the health system, the options for health care—especially emergency care—for the people of Gaza are reduced to zero, and Israel continues to operate with impunity.”
According to the World Health Organization, Israel has carried out at least 670 attacks on Gaza’s health care system as of mid-March, including strikes on hospitals, ambulances, and medical personnel. These assaults have resulted in the deaths of at least 886 people. The WHO has also warned that Gaza’s medical supply stockpiles are “desperately low,” forcing healthcare providers to deliver care with little to no resources.
A UN human rights official recently stated that “mass casualty events are now the norm.” With Israel’s six-week total blockade on humanitarian aid still in effect, UN agencies report that the Gaza Strip is experiencing “what is likely the worst humanitarian crisis” since the beginning of the conflict.
Twelve humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza, including Save the Children and Oxfam, issued an urgent appeal on Thursday calling for Israel to allow the entry of humanitarian aid, including medicine and food. “This is one of the worst humanitarian failures of our generation. Every single person in Gaza is relying on humanitarian aid to survive,” the organizations said in a joint statement. “Survival itself is now slipping out of reach and the humanitarian system is at breaking point.”
Compounding the crisis, forensic autopsies conducted in Gaza have revealed chilling details about the fate of 15 paramedics who were killed and buried in a mass grave by Israeli forces last month. The New York Times reported that autopsies of 14 of the victims found that four had been shot in the head and six in the chest or back. All the victims had been shot multiple times and were wearing clearly identifiable uniforms belonging to emergency services, such as the Red Crescent and Civil Defense.
The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsies, Ahmed Dhair, told The Guardian that several of the bodies showed signs of having been shot with explosive bullets, which fragment on impact and cause extensive internal damage. “In one case, the bullet head had exploded in the chest, and the rest of the bullet fragments were found within the body. There were also remnants or shrapnel from bullets scattered on the back of one of the victims,” Dhair said. He also noted that one of the medics showed signs of being restrained: “One of the victims showed evidence of being tied up by the wrist.”
In some cases, the bodies were so decomposed that it was difficult to determine the exact circumstances of the killings. One was reportedly “severed from the pelvis down.” These conditions were exacerbated by the fact that the medics had been missing for days before being found buried in the sand.
The incident has raised widespread alarm, especially after Israel was forced to walk back initial claims that the medics had been “suspicious” and traveling in unmarked vehicles. Video footage contradicted this assertion, showing that the paramedics were driving clearly marked ambulances and fire trucks with emergency lights activated. The victims were also seen wearing their emergency responder uniforms at the time of the attack.
Israeli officials later said that the initial account was based on a “mistake” by the individual who prepared the report, but maintained that their forces were targeting “terrorists.”
The UN has called the killings a deliberate execution. “We’re digging them out in their uniforms, with their gloves on. They were here to save lives. Instead, they ended up in a mass grave,” said Jonathan Whittall, head of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Palestine. “These ambulances have been buried in the sand. There’s a UN vehicle here, buried in the sand. A bulldozer—Israeli forces bulldozer—has buried them.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has called the massacre a “full-fledged war crime” and is demanding an independent investigation. UN experts and international human rights bodies have echoed those calls, citing Israel’s repeated attacks on hospitals, clinics, and emergency services as violations of international humanitarian law.
With the health system in Gaza effectively collapsed, emergency responders executed, and hospitals destroyed, humanitarian groups say the need for intervention is urgent. As the crisis deepens, the international community faces mounting pressure to hold Israel accountable and to demand immediate access for humanitarian aid.
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