67-year-old retired Palestinian medic Zaki Khadir has turned his son’s corner shop in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah into an emergency first-aid clinic. With help from some of his former colleagues, he tends to the medical needs of his local community.
Since the start of Israel’s war on the besieged Gaza Strip in October, nearly 90% of its population has been internally displaced, with over a million pushed to shelter in Rafah. The wide-scale bombardment and ground invasion has left medical facilities unable to address the urgent needs of a war-torn population.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that only 13 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are still partially functional. The two major hospitals in southern Gaza are operating at three times their bed capacity amidst an acute shortage of basic supplies and fuel.
Over 24,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, have been killed in Gaza so far.
READ: Jordan says southern Gaza hospital badly damaged by Israel shelling nearby