Published: Muharram 21, 1447 AH
Gaza is no longer merely a geographic location that defends the dignity of the nation. It has become a revealing mirror, exposing a world that claims to uphold civilization while turning a blind eye to an unfolding genocide committed in plain sight.
The Israeli enemy targets and kills everything in Gaza—stones and people, displaced persons’ camps, hospitals, doctors, firefighters, and press crews. These crimes are carried out live, before the eyes and ears of a biased global community, backed by unyielding American support and disgraceful official Arab complicity—as if Palestinian lives hold no value.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, hospitals in the Strip have dealt with 94 martyrs, including 7 bodies recovered from under rubble, and 252 injuries in the past 24 hours. This brings the total number of casualties since March 18 to 7,750 martyrs and 27,566 injuries. Since the beginning of the aggression on October 7, 2023, the total has surged to 58,573 martyrs and 139,607 injuries. Among those are 851 martyrs and more than 5,634 injuries among Palestinians who were simply trying to earn a living.
Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, Director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, announced that the General Services Hospital has completely ceased operations. He warned that Al-Shifa and Al-Helou hospitals are on the brink of shutdown within hours. Hundreds of wounded and sick patients are now facing a real threat to their lives amid the collapse of Gaza’s remaining healthcare infrastructure.
Dr. Abu Salmiya also urged the closure of aid distribution centers, as they have turned into death traps. He confirmed that the medical system can no longer serve the ill and the hungry in Gaza—another form of death. Twenty-one Palestinians, including 15 children and elderly people, were martyred after suffocating from gas fired at an aid distribution center in southern Khan Younis.
In a darkness punctuated by gunfire and explosions, true tragedies unfold—ones that can only be described through testimonies born of suffering. Amid this humanitarian catastrophe, desperate mothers and families cling to hopeless hopes, as children's tears blend with unanswered cries for help.
Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director-General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, shed light on a new dimension of this brutal war: the targeting has not only hit homes but also the wombs—killing life before it begins.
In a post on the platform “X,” Al-Bursh cited official health data for the first half of 2025, revealing the full extent of the catastrophe facing mothers and newborns. He declared that the war has crossed all boundaries: “even fetuses and infants have become invisible targets in this arena of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the erasure of the Palestinian lineage.”
Over recent months, hospitals have recorded unimaginable tragedies. Life is ending before it even begins. The Strip has witnessed 2,600 miscarriages—15.3% of all pregnancies—due to immense physical and psychological stress under relentless bombardment and suffocating siege, with essential medical care nearly non-existent.
In a sorrowful scene, 220 pregnant women lost their babies either during pregnancy or before childbirth, amid severe shortages of food and medicine. Their dreams now hang by the fragile thread of survival, hoping only to see their children born alive.
The heartbreak continues with newborns who cry their first and last breaths within hours. Hospitals reported 21 infant deaths on the first day of life in the first half of 2025, all born into an environment unfit for human life, deprived of basic rights to nourishment and growth. Cases of congenital deformities have reached 67 (0.39%), caused by pollution, malnutrition, and war’s devastating health impacts on future generations.
Al-Bursh confirmed that 2,535 newborns are now in under-resourced neonatal units suffering from a 14.91% shortage in staff and supplies. Meanwhile, 1,600 infants were born underweight (9.41%), due to malnutrition suffered by their mothers. Many did not reach full term—1,460 premature births (8.59%) have been recorded, amid constant fear and devastation that now threatens their lives and deepens their families’ suffering.
Meanwhile, UNRWA has warned that premature babies in Gaza are being born with unprecedented genetic mutations, a signal of the deepening health crisis across the Strip.
In a painful testament to this reality, UNRWA confirmed that one in every ten children examined at its Gaza clinics suffers from malnutrition. As of last Saturday, 67 children had died due to malnutrition, according to medical sources in Gaza. More than 650 children under the age of five now face a severe and immediate risk of acute malnutrition in the coming weeks, among over 1.1 million children living in what has become the world’s largest open-air prison.
Data indicates that over 70,000 children in Gaza are malnourished—a situation unprecedented in scale. Hospitals are facing critical drug shortages, while families starve and babies either die inside their mothers’ wombs or are left to an unknown fate, all under an unrelenting siege that spares neither children nor adults.
In another heartbreaking incident, 15 civilians, including renowned surgeon Dr. Ahmad Qandil, were martyred in an Israeli airstrike on a civilian gathering in central Gaza. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza mourned Qandil, describing him as a pillar of Gaza’s medical community, dedicated to serving the wounded and ill under war and siege.
Dr. Qandil was one of Gaza’s most skilled general surgeons, known for his professionalism, humanity, and inspirational role among young medical professionals.
The Israeli enemy continues to wage a deliberate war of thirst against the Palestinian people in Gaza, using water as a collective weapon to exterminate the population. The Government Media Office reported that the Israeli enemy has targeted 112 freshwater filling stations, massacring hundreds of civilians waiting in water lines—700 have been confirmed martyred, most of them children. The most recent massacre took place at the New Camp northwest of Nuseirat Camp, claiming 12 lives, including 8 children.
The assault has not stopped there. The Israeli enemy deliberately destroyed 720 water wells, rendering them non-functional and depriving over 1.25 million people of access to clean water.
In parallel, the media office stated that the Israeli entity has barred the entry of 12 million liters of fuel monthly—fuel essential to operating water wells, sewage treatment plants, waste collection vehicles, and other critical sectors.
The crisis reached its peak when municipalities in Gaza’s central governorate declared a total halt to all basic services due to a complete fuel shortage. This shutdown includes water wells, sewage systems, garbage collection, and heavy equipment used to remove rubble and open roads.
In a statement, the municipalities expressed deep concern over the ongoing water outage from the "Mekorot" station—a key source for the region—since January 23, which has worsened the water crisis and heightened public health and environmental risks, especially with the rising number of displaced persons and the inability of service crews to mitigate suffering.
Another critical line was severed when the electricity supply to the central desalination plant south of Deir al-Balah was cut off on March 9, 2025, causing a sharp drop in drinking water production.
The Zionist enemy’s obstinate refusal to allow fuel entry—despite local and international appeals—has dramatically worsened the crisis, particularly with the prolonged Mekorot water cut-off and electricity outage. These actions have deepened the water crisis, amplified environmental threats, and exacerbated human suffering as summer heat intensifies.
These are not distant or abstract tragedies—they are real, unfolding in live footage, testifying to the agony of Gaza’s people as their dreams erode and their children’s lives shrink into fleeting moments of pain. Meanwhile, the world stands idly by as the catastrophe grows each day, threatening not just individuals but entire generations who now know nothing of their future, except that death chases them at every turn, while siege and denial of essentials continue to suffocate what remains of life in Gaza.
