The Palestinian Center for Human Rights has accused Israel of systematically denying cancer patients in Gaza access to treatment, calling it a slow, deliberate act of genocide.
In a new report titled “The Deadly Wait,” the center highlights the devastating impact of Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s only cancer hospital—the Turkish Friendship Hospital—in March 2025. That attack, combined with strict travel restrictions, has left over 12,500 cancer patients without adequate care.
More than 91% of patients have been barred from traveling outside the Strip for treatment. The result: hundreds have died over the past year and a half, and about 2,700 patients are now in critical condition with nowhere to turn.
Medical supplies are also dangerously low—over 85% of essential cancer medications are unavailable. The report describes this as intentional neglect that inflicts deep physical and psychological harm.
Only around 1,100 patients—mostly women and children—have managed to travel for treatment, highlighting what the center says is Israel’s use of healthcare as a weapon of collective punishment.
Patients are also being forced to live in overcrowded shelters and tents after repeated displacement. Many have given up on treatment entirely due to poor living conditions and lack of medical access.
The report condemns Israel’s “sterile travel process,” which requires patients to get security approval to leave, without any guarantee they’ll be allowed to return. This tactic, the center says, turns medical travel into a tool for forced displacement—something it calls a war crime under international law.
The center is urging immediate international intervention to protect patients and hold Israel accountable for what it calls crimes against humanity.
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