Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip, Palestine – In the dimly lit corridors of Al Amal Hospital west of Khan Yunis, one of 17 hospitals that are partially operational Health facilities in GazaA rare feeling of hope grips staff and patients.

The mediators announced a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel to end the 15-month-old war on Gaza, and although the Israeli government has not yet approved the deal, optimism is contagious.

For the first time in months, consultant orthopedic surgeon Dr. Khaled Ayyad speaks with confidence as he reassures patients that they will soon receive the medicines and procedures they urgently need and which hospitals have been unable to provide due to Israeli restrictions on delivering aid to Gaza.

“We did the impossible,” Ayyad explains. “We had to improvise ways to deal with cases that were very serious in terms of scale and number, and for a long period of time to get to this point.”

The Israeli army forced him, along with medical staff and other patients, to leave his post at the Palestinian Red Crescent-run Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City a month after the war began on October 7, 2023. The veteran surgeon has been working since then in hope, relying on What he described as “minimal capabilities.”

Throughout the Israeli war on Gaza, “every medical center or humanitarian delivery system has been or is being destroyed,” according to a January 7 report by the medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym, Médecins Sans Frontières.

Ayad had to endure two Israeli raids on Al Amal Hospital in February and March, and was forced to flee into the barren Al Mawasi area in southwest Gaza with his family, including his six children. He says he is lucky to have survived: more than 1,000 healthcare workers were killed, and many were arrested by Israeli forces.

Ayyad told Al Jazeera, “The number of cases that I examined reached 70 patients and wounded daily, in addition to the cases lying in the departments, which are no less than eight cases.” As he spoke, countless patients and visitors crowded the hospital wards while the clinics and outside corridors filled with those seeking care.

patience

Ayyad explains how he often resorted to temporary procedures to treat fractures until the stabilization plates needed for operations were available. “Soon they will,” he says with a broad smile, reassuring Hani Al-Shaqra, the patient who suffered a broken collarbone on Monday in an Israeli attack near his home in Deir Al-Balah where he had taken refuge.

Unable to revive Ayyad’s enthusiasm due to the pain, Al-Shaqra says he cannot wait for the ceasefire to take effect so he can undergo the surgery he needs.

“In light of this genocide, the care I received was expected, especially since everyone faces great difficulties in obtaining treatment or even reaching hospitals. I am optimistic…that treatment is possible after the ceasefire,” he says, speaking cautiously, careful not to move his arm or the sling that helps lift the weight off his shoulder.

“I just hope it happens soon before my condition deteriorates,” he adds.

Talks to reach a ceasefire and end the war that has caused deaths More than 46,700 Palestinians king I stumbled over and over again over the past year until the mediators announced on Wednesday that an agreement had been reached.

Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president on Monday was a de facto deadline, and a ceasefire was scheduled to go into effect the day before. However, larger supplies of much-needed humanitarian aid will be allowed to enter the Strip after massive shortfalls in aid deliveries, exacerbated by the closure of the Rafah crossing with Egypt in May, through which most supplies entered.

“There is a lot of work to be done”

While Ayyad hopes the influx of humanitarian supplies will bring some relief to Palestinians in Gaza, he knows he and other medical staff will have a lot of work to do.

“Many of the wounded we sent for temporary treatment will need to be re-operated, properly, once supplies are available,” he says.

Dr. Adnan Al-Zatmeh, a general surgeon working alongside Ayyad, emphasizes the enormity of the challenges.

Aside from the obvious shortages of medicines and supplies, he recounts the devastation seen throughout the hospital: from X-ray machines and electricity generators destroyed during the Israeli invasion to burned wards, bullet-riddled walls, and entrances and roads destroyed by bulldozers. Leading to the hospital.

“The ceasefire will be a respite, but it will not be magic,” Al-Zatma says.

According to Dr. Haider Al-Qudra, Executive Director of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza, the health care sector is operating at less than 10 percent of its pre-war capacity. The state of the health care system before the war was below what was needed, according to Doctors Without Borders, due to the 17-year Israeli blockade on Gaza. It is now a mess.

“Tens of thousands of patients have suffered due to the collapse of health care,” Al-Qudra says.

“This includes deaths, disabilities and severe complications for those who cannot access proper care during the war,” he adds, highlighting that facilities such as Al Amal Hospital and Al Wafa Hospital were out of commission during most of the war.

“For many patients, rehabilitation was the only way to regain mobility or basic function. Losing these services was catastrophic,” he says.

Major hospitals such as Al-Quds and Al-Shifa Hospital were severely damaged, and facilities such as Al-Amal Hospital suffered significant infrastructure damage.

Despite these challenges, Red Crescent hospitals treated more than 500,000 cases and received an additional 900,000 patients in primary care centers during the conflict. Al Amal Hospital alone deals with 1,500 cases per day, along with two field hospitals and 10 primary care centers in northern Gaza.

“gradual recovery”

“A ceasefire would lead to a gradual recovery of the health care system, supported by international aid,” Al-Qudra says. “The Red Crescent plans to establish five field hospitals across Gaza and 30 primary care centres, including one main center in each of the five governorates” once supplies are available.

He says that coordination with international organizations such as the Red Cross and the World Health Organization aims to facilitate the entry of medical supplies from the occupied West Bank, where Red Crescent warehouses contain extremely important stocks.

Al-Qudra adds: “These supplies, along with the arrival of Arab and international medical teams, will breathe life into the healthcare system in Gaza.” “Reopening hospitals, albeit gradually, and improving mobility throughout Gaza, will restore some sense of normalcy. The ability to work without fear of being targeted will also improve conditions for medical teams.

“The ceasefire provides a ray of hope for everyone. As with everyone, the medical staff is exhausted. The healthcare system, damaged by a relentless war, needs a chance to recover, and is prepared to take the long road to recovery,” he concludes.

This piece was published in collaboration with For example.