OCHA Archives - CrossFireArarbia

‘We Are Dying’: Cancer Patients Plead For Treatment

CrossFireArabia
February 8, 2026

As World Cancer Day is marked on Wednesday, thousands of patients in Gaza face worsening illness, untreated pain and closed crossings – despite the limited opening of the vital route through Rafah this week.

“We are dying. Every day, between two and three patients die inside this hospital,” says Munther Abu Foul, a cancer patient lying on his bed in Gaza’s largest hospital. “I can’t get out of bed because of the pain. We want a solution – open the crossings.”

His words capture the reality facing thousands of cancer patients across the Strip, where access to specialist care has collapsed and evacuation for treatment abroad remains out of reach for many.

Local health organisations warn that around 11,000 patients are currently deprived of specialised or diagnostic cancer treatment inside Gaza.

Some 4,000 patients who received medical referrals to hospitals outside the Strip have been waiting for more than two years to travel.

UN News visited Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, documenting the dire conditions inside its oncology department. Patients crowd corridors and wards, waiting for consultations or treatments that are no longer available.

Essential medicines and equipment are in short supply, while many patients endure chronic pain that leaves them barely able to move.

Raed Abu Warda, a man in a green jacket, comforts his brother Hamid Abu Warda, a cancer patient, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

UN News

A man takes care of his brother, a cancer patient at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

‘Every day, two or three patients die’

Mr. Abu Foul flips through his medical transfer papers, issued long ago for treatment outside Gaza. He has not been able to travel for more than two years.

“The health situation in the Gaza Strip is dilapidated,” he says. “There is no treatment or medicines, and we are dying. Every day, two to three patients die here inside this hospital. I can’t get out of bed because of the pain.”

He appeals directly for help. “We want a solution. Open the crossings properly so that God will release us from this suffering. Everyone will be held accountable.”

Nearby, Mohamed Hammou tends to his elderly mother, who is also battling cancer. He says families are forced to watch loved ones deteriorate without care.

We want a solution. Open the crossings properly so that God will release us from this suffering – Abu Foul

“This is how we stand in front of a patient who is dying, without treatment or any medical facilities that help them recover,” he says. “This does not please God and it does not satisfy people. We call on Islamic, Arab and international nations to look at the sick with mercy.”

A brother in pain

In another ward, Raed Abu Warda cares for his brother Hamid, whose cancer has worsened after long delays in treatment. What began as a small, benign illness has become a life-threatening condition.

“He has been suffering from cancer for two years,” Raed explains. “He waited all this time for the crossing to open so he could be treated outside. His pain has increased, as you can see.”

He gestures towards a wound that has opened beneath his brother’s chin. “The disease has created this wound, and his condition is getting worse every day. I stand watching my brother and mourning his condition because of the pain.”

Mundhir Abu Foul, a cancer patient in Gaza, sits on a hospital bed with his hands open, appearing to speak or gesture.

UN News

The health situation in the Gaza Strip is deteriorating for those suffering from life-threatening cancers, despite the limited opening of the Rafah crossing.

The number of patients seeking care at Gaza’s oncology departments continues to rise, even as hospitals face severe shortages of medicines, equipment and specialised staff. For newly diagnosed patients, the future is increasingly uncertain.

Evacuations far short of needs

With the limited reopening of the Rafah crossing, the World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting the evacuation of patients and their companions from Gaza, focusing on ensuring safe transport. Yet the scale of need far outstrips what is currently possible.

All we ask for is a way to live

More than 18,000 patients – including around 4,000 children – are waiting to be evacuated abroad for medical treatment, according to WHO.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported last week that Gaza’s Ministry of Health had recorded more than 1,200 patient deaths while people were waiting for medical evacuation. Around 4,000 cancer patients remain on critical waiting lists, trapped between closed crossings and a health system pushed beyond its limits.

For patients like Munther Abu Foul, time is running out. “We are dying,” he repeats. “All we ask for is a way to live.” – UN News

News

The Cold Kills 11 Children in Gaza

CrossFireArabia
January 31, 2026

The UN on Friday said the winter conditions in the Gaza Strip are turning deadly as 11 children have died of hypothermia, and renewed calls to lift Israeli restrictions on humanitarian operations.

Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said at a news conference that “families in Gaza continue to face harsh winter conditions.”

He reported that “on Tuesday, another child reportedly died from hypothermia,” adding: “This is the eleventh child who has died this way since the beginning of the winter season, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza,” according to Anadolu.

Noting that since October, “the UN and our partners have distributed tens of thousands of tents, providing shelter to over half a million people,” Haq stressed that “tents provide limited protection, especially during the rainy season.”

“We continue calling for more durable shelter solutions to limit people’s dependency on tents,” he added.

Haq also warned that food access remains fragile, saying: “Even with the improvements in food consumption this month, humanitarians stress that the entry of aid and commercial supplies must be sustained and further diversified.”

He said that efforts to address malnutrition have expanded, adding: “Humanitarians have expanded services through dozens of facilities established since the ceasefire.”

“We reiterate that restrictions on humanitarian operations must be lifted,” Haq said, calling on Israel to end “the ongoing ban on UNRWA” and urging that humanitarian partners be allowed to operate “without hindrance across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”

News

Vandalizing The Olive Tree

CrossFireArabia
November 1, 2025

The current olive harvest season in the occupied West Bank has seen the highest level of illegal settler attacks in five years, a UN agency said Saturday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement that 126 attacks were recorded in 70 Palestinian towns and villages, while over 4,000 olive trees and saplings were vandalized.

“The 2025 olive harvest season has so far witnessed the highest level of damage and number of affected communities due to settler attacks since 2020,” it added.

OCHA noted that 60 of the documented attacks involved direct assaults on Palestinian civilians, with at least 17 people injured and 19 vehicles vandalized in the past week alone according to Anadolu.

The UN agency said illegal Israeli settlers from newly established outposts have also imposed access restrictions on Palestinian farmers in multiple locations, preventing them from reaching their groves during the harvest.

On Saturday, illegal Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian olive pickers in the village of Burin, south of Nablus, and assaulted several of them, the official news agency Wafa reported.

Illegal settlers stormed farmland between Burin and the nearby town of Huwara, beat multiple harvesters and forced them to leave the fields, the broadcaster said.

Wafa added that the attackers also scattered the olives the farmers had already collected, leaving them on the ground.

The attack came amid a sharp rise in settler violence against Palestinian farmers during the annual olive harvest, which typically begins in mid-October each year.

According to the official Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, 259 attacks on Palestinians carried out by the Israeli army and illegal settlers during the olive harvest season.

Israeli attacks have escalated across the occupied West Bank since October 2023, killing more than 1,062 Palestinians and injuring 10,300 others, according to Palestinian figures.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Uncategorized

Ugly War: Amputating The Palestinians?

CrossFireArabia
August 25, 2025

One of the many ugly consequences of wars and conflict is injuries leading to a loss of limbs. Gaza, which now has the highest number of child amputees per capital anywhere in the world, is no exception.

“I was going to buy falafel,” says Mohammed Hassan. “On the way home, I looked up and saw a rocket heading towards me. I tried to run, but it was too fast. I found myself pinned to the wall, and my foot had been blown off.”

Brought to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the young boy looks down at his heavily bandaged left leg, and the stump where his foot used to be.

In another area of the hospital, a small child, Maryam Abu Alba, is crying in pain. “The neighbour’s house was bombed, and their home was hit,” says her grandmother. “One of her legs had to be amputated, and metal plates had to be inserted into the other one, which was fractured. She is in severe pain.”

Earlier this year, the UN humanitarian aid coordination agency OCHA estimated that 4,500 new amputees require prosthetics, in addition to the 2,000 existing cases requiring maintenance and follow-up care, while about 24,000 injured people required rehabilitation.

Health facilities are overwhelmed with many patients undergoing multiple surgeries without adequate medical supplies, including anaesthesia.

UN News

Palestinian child Mohammad Hassan sitting on a hospital bed in Gaza after his left leg was amputated by a strike.

Desperately seeking food

In May, as supply routes for UN humanitarian convoys were interrupted, the number of distribution points of aid dropped from 400 dotted across the Gaza strip to a handful of hubs operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Given the shortage of humanitarian aid and diminished capacity, thousands of Palestinians have been killed or injured since May while seeking food. Among the wounded are children and parents who, despite losing limbs, continue to search for food and water.

This comes as a UN-backed food security report has just concluded that famine is confirmed in Gaza governorate, where half a million people are trapped in conditions of starvation, malnutrition and death.

Ibrahim Abdel Nabi was one of the many Palestinians who headed to the hubs in the hope of finding desperately needed provisions for their families.

In his tent at a displacement site in the coastal Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, Mr. Nabi, surrounded by his wife and children, explains how the journey ended in disaster and life-changing injuries.

“When I arrived at the Al-Alam area, west of Rafah, I was hit by an explosive bullet in my leg. I was bleeding for about an hour and a half, and no one came to help me. They were all trying to find food for their children.”

Eventually, a group of people came to his rescue and took him to the nearby Red Cross hospital.

“I stayed there for about a month and a half, undergoing about 12 operations. I became malnourished and lost a lot of blood. Infection spread, and more of my leg had to be amputated.”

Ibrahim Abdel Nabi, a Palestinian displaced in Gaza, sitting on a chair while his wife helps him wear the handmade prosthetic limb.

‘I made my prosthetic leg’

As Mr. Nabi was trying to recover, he was aware that his family were still in need of food. Despite the pain, he decided to make a simple prosthesis from materials he could find to allow him to get back on his feet and make fresh attempts to find food and water.

“The prosthesis injures my leg,” he said. “It causes inflammation and increases the pain. We don’t have medical care or supplies, but I will use it no matter how much it hurts.”

As he speaks, Mr. Nabi’s wife begins to cry. “God willing, we will live through this experience,” she says.

Mr. Nabi gets up on crutches and heads to a nearby tent, where his wife helps him to put on the crude prosthesis.

“Don’t strain yourself,” she repeats, over and over. “Take your time. Walk slowly.”

UN News

News

‘Aid Trickle’ Mean People Die Before Reaching Hospitals

CrossFireArabia
August 6, 2025

Children in Gaza are dying not just from hunger, but from the total collapse of the systems meant to protect them, UN agencies warned on Tuesday.

With 96 per cent of households lacking clean water, many malnourished children are not surviving long enough to receive hospital care.

James Elder, Spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told a media briefing in Geneva that it would be a mistake to assume that the situation was improving.

“There’s a sense through the world’s press that things are improving,” he said. “But unless there is sustained humanitarian aid…there will be horrific results.”

He emphasised the scale of need: “When food comes in which supports 30,000 children, there are still 970,000 children not getting enough. It is a drop in the ocean.”

Aid still a trickle

The UN relief coordination office, OCHA, said that although unilateral pauses have allowed some aid into Gaza, the current trickle is vastly insufficient.

“There should be hundreds and hundreds of trucks entering Gaza every day, for months or years to come,” said Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson. “People are dying every day. This is a crisis, on the brink of famine.”

Thousands of tons of pre-funded aid remain stuck just outside the enclave, he added, as bureaucratic delays and lack of safe access continue to block distribution.

Urgent scale-up needed

In New York, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq also noted the impediments to bringing in and distributing sufficient aid.

“Massive food shortages continue to impact people’s chances for survival,” he said. “As malnutrition levels rise, children’s immune systems are weakened, hindering their development and growth far into the future.”

Last Thursday alone, 71 kitchens delivered over 270,000 hot meals across Gaza, including 10,000 to health facilities. But that figure falls far short of what’s needed to feed more than two million people.

“We need an urgent scale-up of supplies, as well as an environment that allows humanitarians to reach people in need safely, rapidly and efficiently,” Mr. Haq added.

Health challenges continue

Some medicine has entered Gaza in recent days, but supplies remain limited. Health workers continue to operate under extreme pressure and shortages.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 46 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome in July, including two deaths. The condition, which affects the nervous system, has been linked to compromised immunity, poor nutrition and hygiene-related infections.

The situation of pregnant women and nursing mothers is equally alarming. The UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, said that 40 per cent of pregnant or breastfeeding women are suffering from severe malnutrition, with newborn deaths and stillbirths on the rise.

Meanwhile, three UN fuel tankers reached Gaza City on Monday. The fuel will power critical health, water and sanitation services, but OCHA stressed this only allows operations to run at “bare minimum” capacity according to UN News.