Israel’s siege on Gaza is creating a breast cancer crisis

She glances at the physician’s door as the corridor fills up with more patients and their companions, waiting patiently for her name to be called out. Her experience with breast cancer began at the start of July when she noticed signs of the disease. Massive disruptions to healthcare, caused by Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the demands of her home in Deir el-Balah meant Esad delayed seeing a doctor.

“I felt that something was not normal, but the mammography machine was not available,” she told Al Jazeera. “Every day I told myself I would go tomorrow, but my responsibilities at home, from cooking and washing to taking care of my family, kept taking my time.”

Waiting for treatment since being diagnosed with breast cancer, Esad fills her days with medical appointments, examinations, and long waits for treatment in a healthcare system that is collapsing under the pressure of Israel’s war on Gaza. She has more questions than answers and faces long, agonising waits for the results of every examination. Since the siege on Gaza tightened after the war began in October 2023, there has been a lack of medicine, medical equipment, and specialized diagnostic services.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there are around 10,000 cancer cases in Gaza, with more than 2,000 new cases diagnosed annually. Breast cancer remains one of the most common types of cancer among women. Outcomes of the disease largely depend on early diagnosis and timely access to appropriate care, but these are difficult to find in a war zone. The mammography machine at Yafa Medical Hospital in Deir el-Balah is frequently “out of action”, and spare parts are hard to find.

Physician Dr. Hala al-Buhaisi said women are left in a “cycle of confusion and exhaustion” due to the difficulties in getting proper diagnosis and treatment.

“[The war] has stopped access to healthcare services that are responsible for detecting and treating breast cancer,” she told Al Jazeera. Lacking medicine during the conflict, al-Buhaisi has noticed an increase in women entering the hospital with advanced stages of cancer.