Dying While Waiting: Dialysis as a Sentence in Gaza
The siege turns medical waiting lists into a slow, administered death sentence
In the Gaza Strip, kidney disease has stopped being a diagnosis and has become a countdown. This is not a metaphor — it is a documented fact, dated and quantified. While the world gets used to saying “ceasefire,” hundreds of people with kidney failure are dying while they wait. They wait for a dialysis session that never comes, for a drug that never enters, for an exit permit that is never granted. They wait as their bodies shut down.
Since October 2023, when Israel launched its large-scale offensive, Gaza’s health system has been devastated. More than 71,000 people have been killed, hospitals bombed, clinics rendered unusable, and medical staff exhausted or displaced. And in the silence that follows the big headlines, a quiet and constant death persists: that of those who depend on chronic treatments. There is no explosion. There is anemia, pain, and toxins building up in the blood.
Waiting Lists That Kill
In the dialysis unit at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the scene is repeated day after day. Patients are crammed together. Shifts are cut short. Irregular sessions break any clinical protocol. Dialysis does not tolerate improvisation — but the siege does. According to correspondent Ashraf Abu Amra of Al Jazeera Arabic, deaths have increased in recent months due to the impossibility of ensuring regular treatments.
The figures are stark. Palestinian health authorities estimate that around 30,000 sick and injured people are waiting for authorization to leave Gaza to receive specialized care. In the case of kidney failure, every day without treatment brings irreversible damage. This is not rhetoric; it is basic physiology.
One patient describes sleepless nights filled with pain — no painkillers, no relief. Another puts the minimum political demand as opening crossings and letting medicines in. When a sick person asks for only that, they are not asking for privileges — they are asking not to die.
The problem is not only access to machines. Essential drugs are missing, especially erythropoietin, a hormone key to stimulating red blood cell production. Doctors confirm its absence causes one or two deaths a month among dialysis patients by preventing regulation of hemoglobin levels — deaths that could be prevented in a context that was deliberately created.
A Ceasefire Without Medicine
The ceasefire of October 2025 has not changed this reality. Restrictions continue. Bombings continue. Retreat lines move. Crossings remain closed or severely limited. In particular, the Rafah crossing, key for medical evacuations, remains a lethal bottleneck.
It is important to call things by their name. This is not a logistical crisis. It is a blockade policy. The entry of medicines, equipment, and humanitarian aid is subject to military decisions. The result is predictable and measurable: chronic patients trapped in a system unable to sustain their lives.
Since January 2026, humanitarian organizations and Palestinian health officials have intensified calls to open all crossings. They do not talk about comfort — they talk about survival. Because in Gaza, waiting is not neutral. Waiting kills.
This text is an English translation of the article “Morir esperando: la diálisis como condena en Gaza”, originally published by Spanish Revolution.
The original article can be consulted at: Spanish Revolution https://spanishrevolution.net/morir-esperando-la-dialisis-como-condena-en-gaza/
EKPF has translated this content for informational purposes. The views and reporting belong to the original author and publisher.