On the dialysis floor of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, the same scene repeats itself every day. Machines run without stopping. Patients sit in closely arranged rows. Medical tubes connect bodies to life for limited hours.
In one of the chairs sits 14-year-old Ruwaa Muntasir Abdul Karim, from Jabalia in northern Gaza. Her small size makes her stand out in a crowded room full of patients.
Her left hand is connected to a dialysis machine. Her eyes follow the movement of the medical staff inside the room, but she remains silent throughout the session – the whole process has exhausted her.
Her father, Muntasir, sits next to her, his face full of concern.
“My daughter used to walk and play before the illness. Her life changed after surgeries and dialysis,” Muntasir said. “Every dialysis session keeps her alive. Any interruption causes her severe fatigue and shortness of breath.”
But the hospital department keeping Ruwaa alive is struggling itself, under the constant pressure to support the thousands of people in Gaza in need of treatment, without the necessary resources to do so.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has decimated the Palestinian enclave’s medical sector through repeated attacks on hospitals, including al-Shifa, as well as harsh limitations on what can enter Gaza.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 50 percent of dialysis machines in Gaza have stopped working completely due to an ongoing shortage of sodium bicarbonate, which is required to operate the machines.
Al Jazeera
