This development reportedly signals the potential for more severe illnesses and faster transmission of infectious diseases among the population.
Gaza is facing a growing threat from antibiotic-resistant infections spreading across the besieged enclave, a medical study published by The Lancet has revealed.
According to a peer-reviewed comment in the medical journal on Tuesday, the research analyzed over 1,300 samples collected from a small laboratory at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, providing one of the enclave’s only functioning microbiology services.
“Gaza is facing a new threat as diseases resistant to antibiotics spread across the devastated territory,” meaning “longer and more serious illnesses, a more rapid transmission of infectious diseases and more deaths.” https://t.co/QxevxMffcL
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) August 13, 2025
“We reviewed every specimen collected and processed from the hospital’s wards or emergency theatre between Nov 1, 2023, and Aug 31, 2024,” the experts said.
This development signals the potential for more severe illnesses and faster transmission of infectious diseases among the population, amid a rising death toll due to Israel’s ongoing assault on the territory, the Quds News Network (QNN) reported.
Over 154,00 Injuries
Deepening the crisis, medical supplies in Gaza remain severely limited, while more than 154,000 Palestinians have been injured since the onslaught began in October 2023. In addition, malnutrition due to the Israeli blockade has further weakened many, increasing vulnerability to disease.
The experts commented that the international medical community “has a duty to act and respond to this crisis.”
Guillain-Barré Syndrome is threatening the lives of three children in Gaza, amid serious warnings of a rise in acute flaccid paralysis cases driven by the worsening health and environmental crisis caused by Israel’s blockade and attacks on the besieged enclave.
Medical… pic.twitter.com/uz4auYVyln
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) August 13, 2025
Healthcare workers and governments worldwide “must advocate for the cessation of the Israeli military invasion that has resulted in a surge of trauma injuries and the widespread deliberate targeting of hospitals, laboratories, and water desalination plants, the expert noted, adding that “without this ceasefire, the infection burden will escalate further.”
“Laboratories that still exist should be stabilised … as such, restrictions on the entry of essential medical supplies must be lifted,” they stressed.
Results ‘Alarming’
In addition, drug supply should be coordinated across humanitarian agencies and donors, “perhaps through WHO, so that the antimicrobial response is tailored to the documented need of hospitals.”
Contaminated Water, Malnutrition Drive Guillain-Barré Outbreak in Gaza
Bilal Irfan, one of the study’s authors, was cited by The Guardian as saying the results were “particularly alarming.”
“We don’t even know the true scale because of the destruction of almost all the laboratories and the killing of a lot of the medical staff, so to even get a small insight into what is happening in Gaza is extremely important,” he was quoted as saying.
Hospitals Overwhelmed
On Tuesday, Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the West Bank and Gaza, said fewer than half of Gaza’s hospitals and under 38 percent of primary healthcare centres are partially functioning – or are doing so at minimal levels.
“The critical shortage in medications and consumables continue and have only exacerbated, with 52 per cent of the medicines and 68 per cent of consumables at zero stock,” Dr. Peeperkorn told journalists in Geneva, speaking from Jerusalem.
WHO representative Rik Peeperkorn warns that Gaza’s hospitals are operating far beyond capacity amid severe shortages of essential supplies. Less than half of the hospitals and just over one-third of primary health centers are partially functional, as widespread hunger and… pic.twitter.com/6F9XEaUAZG
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) August 13, 2025
“Hospitals are particularly overwhelmed by injuries from food distribution areas, which are also driving persistent shortages of blood and plasma,” he added, noting that since May 27.
Dr. Peeperkorn said that international medics face entry denials, while key items such as ICU equipment, anaesthesia machines and cold chain supplies continue to be held back.
Though WHO managed to bring in 80 trucks of medical supplies since June, he stressed that procedures are slow and unpredictable, with many shipments delayed or denied.
“We need multiple crossings into Gaza opened, procedures simplified, and access impediments lifted,” he said. “We hear about more humanitarian supplies being allowed in – but it’s not happening, or it’s happening far too slowly.”
Staggering Death Toll
Since Israel’s reneging on the ceasefire on March 18, it has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip through a bloody and ongoing aerial bombardment.
On October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian Resistance operation in southern Israel, the Israeli military launched a genocidal war against the Palestinians, killing over 61,700, wounding more than 154,500, with over 14,000 still missing.
Over 700 Gaza War Crimes Reports Filed in Sweden amid Ongoing Investigations
Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.
Israel is currently under investigation for the crime of genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are now officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.
The Israeli genocide has been largely defended, supported, and financed by Washington and a few other Western powers.
(PC, QNN, UN News)
