Palestinian photojournalist documents Israel's crimes in Gaza despite struggling with cancer

By Anadolu staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Palestinian photojournalist Yousef Abu Saeed continues to document Israeli crimes in Gaza despite the health complications he suffers from cancer.

"I didn't get my chemotherapy from the third day of the war since Oct. 7," Abu Saeed told Anadolu.

"I discovered the cancer just one month before the outbreak of the war and only received two doses of the treatment and the results were positive," he said.

He added that the targeting on Oct. 31 of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, the only hospital for cancer treatment in the Gaza Strip, prevented cancer patients from receiving medical treatment.

In a previous statement, the hospital's director, Subhi Skaik, said that since it went out of service, 10,000 cancer patients have been living in inhumane circumstances amid a lack of medicines and treatment.

"The suffering of the war overwhelms the suffering of the cancer patients, as there is no space to think of the illness," said Abu Saeed.

He highlighted that the lack of a specialized hospital for cancer patients deprives them of proper treatment and aggravates their health situation.

Abu Saeed also noted that displacement affects in particular the cancer patients and those with low immunity as people are crowded in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amid a lack of proper health conditions.

The number of displaced Palestinians in Rafah has risen to 1.3 million, while its population before Oct. 7 was not more than 300,000.

The Israeli army has been waging a destructive war on Gaza since Oct. 7 last year, resulting in 24,620 deaths and 61,830 injuries and causing the displacement of more than 85% of the Gaza Strip's population, according to Palestinian authorities and the UN.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar