A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Six months into the ceasefire in Gaza, and around half of its hospitals are still destroyed, and the rest are struggling without enough supplies. NPR's Aya Batrawy heard from visiting doctors in Gaza about what they're seeing on the ground.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: One of Gaza's biggest hospitals still standing is located in the southern city of Khan Yunis. That's where Drs. Anas Abdel-Rahim (ph), a chronic pain specialist from Texas and Ashraf Abou El-Ezz, an anesthesiologist from Indiana, were volunteering in Gaza when I reached them on the phone last month. Here's Abou El-Ezz from Nasser Hospital.
ASHRAF ABOU EL-EZZ: When I go in the morning to do my cases and take care of my patients, I find that a lot of items are missing in the operating room, in terms of medications, in terms of simple stuff like tape, scissors, thermometers.
BATRAWY: Israel's military says that a stable volume of hundreds of aid trucks enter Gaza daily and that needs are being met. Hamas, which governs part of Gaza, disputes that figure. In a new document shared with NPR, Hamas says, on average, just around 230 trucks have entered each day since the start of the ceasefire six months ago, a figure far below the roughly 600 trucks U.N. agencies say are needed, and what was agreed upon. And Israel closed all of Gaza's crossings, except for one for goods to enter during the war on Iran, further slashing the amount of aid getting in.
ANAS ABDEL-RAHIM: I didn't feel that there was enough aid before the war started with Iran, so - let alone to have enough aid right now.
BATRAWY: That was Dr. Abdel-Rahim. He says he's handling patients with gunshot wounds from continued Israeli attacks. Israel's military says it's targeting Hamas militants or people who've posed a threat to its troops, which still occupy more than half of Gaza. Of the 750 Palestinians killed in this ceasefire, according to Gaza's health ministry, 42% have been women, children and elderly. Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a Canadian pediatrician, told journalists last week it's not only Israeli gunfire killing people.
TANYA HAJ-HASSAN: Patients are dying of very preventable things. So, for example, while I was in Gaza, four children died under our care who had congenital cardiac conditions that are easily repairable with appropriate surgery.
BATRAWY: Surgery that Gaza's hospitals are not equipped to perform.
Aya Batrawy, NPR News, Dubai.
(SOUNDBITE OF DAVID ORLOWSKY ET AL.'S "LISBOA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
