Heart patients in Gaza are facing life-threatening conditions as ongoing Israeli attacks and widespread destruction of health infrastructure cripple the territory’s medical system. Severe shortages of medicines, equipment and functioning facilities have left hospitals overwhelmed and unable to provide even basic cardiac care, putting thousands of lives at risk.

Patients such as 66-year-old Mohammed Al-Sa'ati, who urgently needs a pacemaker that is unavailable, remain hospitalized for months as their conditions worsen. Others, including 67-year-old Fatima Rashid, report deteriorating health due to the lack of essential medications and follow-up procedures, with some fearing imminent death as treatments are delayed or canceled.

Doctors say that around 80 percent of scheduled catheterization procedures have been suspended because of missing supplies such as stents and balloons. Diagnostic equipment is either unavailable or damaged, and only a handful of critical cases can be treated daily. Restrictions on movement further prevent patients from traveling outside Gaza for urgent care, leading to preventable deaths.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, heart disease now accounts for about 56 percent of all deaths in Gaza. Thousands of patients are unable to access treatment, and many have died while waiting for permission to seek medical care abroad, underscoring the deepening humanitarian and health crisis in the territory.