Summer remembers spending long days laughing, talking and sharing meals with her aunt Iktimal at her home near the beach in Gaza.
asserted
Summer → remember → Gaza
“She loved cooking and was always preparing delicious meals and desserts,” she says.
asserted
she → love → meals
“Iktimal had a warm and welcoming personality that made everyone feel at home.
asserted
everyone → have → home
But in September – just a month before the one year anniversary of a ceasefire – the 53-year-old grandmother and mother-of-eight died far of cancer, from her loved ones in a hospital bed in Egypt.
asserted
grandmother → die → Egypt
Her family say that lengthy delays in her evacuation led to her death and that she is one of the many victims of the enclave’s devastated health system.
asserted
she → say → system
Iktimal knew something was wrong after she felt unwell in February 2026 and she underwent a biopsy around the same time.
asserted
she → know → time
But delays in obtaining medical equipment and essential supplies in Gaza’s histopathology labs meant that her diagnosis was delayed for more than a month.
asserted
diagnosis → obtain → month
After weeks of waiting, the results finally arrived: it was cervical cancer.
asserted
it → arrive → waiting
“When she was diagnosed with cancer, she was determined to fight it,” says Summer.
asserted
Summer → diagnose → it
“She was strong and hopeful, but she was also deeply afraid—not of the cancer itself, but of not being able to access the medical treatment she needed.
asserted
she → access → treatment
“One of her greatest fears was that her condition would continue to worsen because of delays and lack of adequate care, and that she would ultimately lose her life not because the cancer could not be treated, but because she was denied the chance to receive the treatment she needed.”
uncertain
she → continue → treatment
Iktimal’s worst fears became a reality.
asserted
fears → become → ?
After having her womb removed in April, her recovery was slow and painful.
asserted
recovery → have → April
She began to experience severe pain in her kidneys and Summer says it became “increasingly clear that her condition was not improving”.
asserted
condition → begin → kidneys
Local hospitals were unable to provide the medical care she required and the process to be evacuated for better treatment elsewhere was lengthy and complicated.
asserted
process → provide → treatment
According to the World Health Organisation, none of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are operating at full capacity.
uncertain
none → accord → capacity
Only 19 are functioning partially.
asserted
19 → function → ?
They face critical deficits in crucial medical equipment, fuel, electricity and medicine.
asserted
They → face → equipment
Israel still restricts the entry of several items healthcare professionals consider crucial for what it says are security reasons.
asserted
it → restrict → items
Last week the WHO said the restrictions on items such as life-saving medicines and prosthetics could have “devastating consequences”.
uncertain
restrictions → say → consequences
The hospitals that remain are overcrowded with high numbers of trauma and chronic disease patients.
asserted
that → remain → patients
As part of Iktimal’s application to be evacuated she was asked to provide detailed medical records, test results and scans.
asserted
she → evacuate → records
In a region that has been destroyed by bombing, obtaining the documents was an extremely difficult and time-consuming process for the family.
asserted
obtaining → destroy → family
She made the application in May.
uncertain
She → make → May
“There no reliable medical record-keeping systems and the hospitals were also dealing with faulty and unavailable scanning equipment,” says Summer.
asserted
Summer → keep → equipment
After finally getting all the information together for an application, they requested that two family members be allowed to accompany her, her daughter and husband.
asserted
members → get → her
In August, they were told that her application had been put on hold because they were only allowed one escort, so the family decided her husband would go.
asserted
husband → tell → escort
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said that “the claim that the request was put on hold due to the rejection of one of the accompanying persons is false.
uncertain
request → say → persons
The approval of a patient is independent of the approval of an accompanying person, and therefore, the patient could have departed at the initial stage.
uncertain
patient → accompany → stage
Finally, after two weeks Iktimal was told she could travel to Egypt.
uncertain
she → tell → Egypt
By this time her condition had become severely critical.
asserted
condition → become → time
“She was in severe pain,” says Summer.
asserted
Summer → say → pain
“The only thing that relieved her temporarily were her morphine shots and they were not always available when needed.
asserted
they → relieve → her
”
She “had only painkillers and psychosocial support sessions at the hospital” during what was to be her last week in Gaza.
asserted
what → have → Gaza
Two weeks later, she died in a hospital in Egypt.
asserted
she → die → Egypt
Her last words to her family were: “I wish I stayed among you.”
asserted
I → wish → you
On Thursday, Gaza’s ministry of health revealed that around 21,000 people are still awaiting medical evacuation.
asserted
people → reveal → evacuation
“It would take a full four years just to evacuate the current list of patients and wounded using the travel mechanisms currently in case, without even accounting for any new medical cases,” read a statement by the ministry.
asserted
statement → take → ministry
“With the continued approval of new medical referrals each month, the travel process would require an additional four years to handle the newly accumulated cases.”
asserted
process → continue → cases
It said: “This amounts to a direct and slow death sentence for thousands of patients whose bodies cannot withstand a wait of even days or weeks.”
asserted
bodies → say → days
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
