Doctor describes dire situation at Gaza’s only Christian hospital

August 29, 2025

A doctor at Gaza’s sole Christian hospital spoke with Vatican media about the dire conditions there.

“All the hospitals in Gaza are overflowing with wounded; their overcrowding is incredible,” said Dr. Maher Ayyad of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, operated by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. “We desperately search for beds, but none are found. At best, patients often spend the nights in the gardens, in the corridors, because there isn’t enough space to accommodate them all.”

Stating that “every day we treat 700 patients, more than 100 of whom are injured,” the physician said that “unfortunately, our lack of resources forces us to gamble on who has the best chance of survival. If there are two injured people who need surgery at the same time, we have to decide who to give this chance at survival to.”

Dr. Ayyad spoke with anguish about the October 2023 explosion at the hospital, as well as an Israeli airstrike on the hospital earlier this year.

“I appeal to the international community: please do everything possible to stop this massacre,” he said. “What’s at stake is not only the well-being of the Palestinians, but also that of the Israelis. We want peace, to live together. This is our greatest desire.”

In the Vatican newspaper’s article on the interview with Dr. Ayyad, Federico Piana reported that “the number of patients losing their lives is uncountable. Collateral victims of a war that has made everything disappear from hospitals, even gauze, antibiotics, and aspirin. Not to mention intensive care units.”

 

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Further information:

• «A Gaza costretti a decidere chi far vivere o morire» (L'Osservatore Romano, 8/28/25)