Gaza has no MRI scanners or fully functioning hospitals one year after ceasefire, says Israeli rights group

One year after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, a Palestinian human rights group has reported that Gaza has no fully functioning hospitals and lacks MRI equipment for its population of over two million people. Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) stated that only slight improvements could be observed in Gaza's overall healthcare situation.

According to the World Health Organisation, 128 attacks were reported on medical facilities during the first seven months of the ceasefire. PHRI noted that intensive care capacity has only increased by one bed, from 103 to 104. Dialysis, previously provided by 17 percent of medical facilities in October 2025, is now available only in 12 percent of facilities.

The Israeli blockade on Gaza's borders has limited the number of Palestinians needing medical treatment abroad to a fraction of those in need. At least 1,570 patients have died while waiting for evacuation, including 264 children, since the ceasefire began on October 10 last year. PHRI claims that Israel's restrictions on medicine and equipment, refusal to allow patients to receive treatment abroad, and obstruction of efforts to repair Gaza's healthcare system are part of a pattern of alleged genocide.

The international definition of genocide includes "the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinian population." PHRI's director, Milena Ansari, stated that a year of "ceasefire" should have brought meaningful relief and rehabilitation to Palestinians, allowing for the recovery and reconstruction of the damaged healthcare system.

Instead, PHRI argues that the ceasefire has only changed the manner in which the genocide is being carried out. The ceasefire was agreed upon last October in a peace plan endorsed by US President Donald Trump, intended to initiate the restoration and rebuilding of life in Gaza through reconstruction, aid, and reversing the devastating effects of Israel's two-year war on the enclave.

More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military response, leaving much of the territory in ruins. The majority of Gaza's residents have been displaced and now reside in a narrow area near the enclave's Mediterranean coast. Ongoing attacks and a life far from normality have left many Gazans questioning whether the ceasefire exists only on paper, not in reality.