Gaza doctors face tough decisions as patients face long waits for diagnoses

Deir el-Balah, Gaza – At Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital here in central Gaza, Bassem Hassan, director of the laboratory department, deals with medical tests whose results will determine the futures of his patients. Hassan’s team gives doctors the information they need to diagnose a range of illnesses, from kidney disease to diabetes, and without this crucial information, they will not know how to proceed with their cases. But Israel’s genocidal war and siege on Gaza has resulted in widespread damage to medical infrastructure and shortages of key materials needed to make diagnoses.