The right to health in Gaza is now a privilege

What the report says

Al Jazeera published an opinion piece on August 24, 2026, by Hadeel Awad, a Gaza-based nurse and writer, arguing that Gaza’s health crisis is increasingly concentrated in displacement camps. The article says the medical system is still struggling even though major hospital raids and bombings are no longer the daily focus of reporting, because many of the people most in need cannot reach the few functioning health facilities and services.

Awad describes visiting an informal camp in Gaza City built on the remains of Hassan Salama school in the Nasr neighbourhood, where hundreds of displaced people were living in tents. She writes that no organization was running the site and that a team from a local private clinic provided free check-ups for one day, seeing at least 150 patients. The patients included people with chronic illnesses, infections and children suffering from common diseases, illustrating how limited access to basic care has become.

The piece says transport costs, distance, heat, exhaustion and damaged infrastructure are making routine treatment hard to obtain, especially for people in camps. As broader background, the author notes that many Gaza hospitals are only partially functioning and that UNRWA’s clinic network has been sharply reduced since the war, limiting access to primary care. The article frames the issue as more than hospital reconstruction, calling for basic clinics and services to be restored for displaced residents.