War-ravaged Gaza is now confronting a dangerous new health crisis, with antibiotic-resistant diseases spreading rapidly across the territory and endangering millions of residents already grappling with severe shortages of medical supplies and humanitarian aid, The Guardian reported.
According to a peer-reviewed research comment published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases on Tuesday — the first such publication since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023 — multi-drug-resistant bacteria are becoming increasingly prevalent in Gaza. Experts warn this could result in longer, more severe illnesses, faster transmission of infectious diseases, and higher death rates.
“The 22-month-long war has crippled Gaza’s healthcare system, leaving tens of thousands injured and many others suffering from malnutrition,” The Guardian noted. “High levels of drug-resistant bacteria would mean more illness for longer periods, a rapid spread of infections, and a significant rise in fatalities.”
An epidemiology adviser to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) — who co-authored the research — described the findings as deeply worrying. “This will mean longer and more serious illnesses and a high risk of transmission to others,” the adviser told The Guardian. “It means an increased risk of death from really common infections. It means more amputations. It’s a horrible picture.”
The study is based on 1,300 samples collected over a 10-month period last year from patients at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza — one of the few remaining facilities with a functional microbiology laboratory. Researchers found that two-thirds of the samples contained multi-drug-resistant bacteria.
One of the study’s authors, Bilal Irfan, called the results “particularly alarming,” stressing that the actual scale of the crisis is likely far worse. “We don’t even know the true scale because of the destruction of almost all the laboratories and the killing of a lot of the medical staff,” Irfan told The Guardian. “So to even get a small insight into what is happening in Gaza is extremely important.”
The collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system has severely hindered disease monitoring and treatment. Hospitals have been bombed, medical workers killed or displaced, and supply lines for essential drugs disrupted. As a result, even basic infections can now become fatal due to the lack of effective antibiotics.
Experts warn that the spread of drug-resistant bacteria in such conditions is a public health emergency that could have long-term consequences not only for Gaza but also for neighbouring regions. With cross-border movements of patients and aid workers, resistant infections could spread beyond the enclave’s borders.
The situation adds a deadly new dimension to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where residents are already struggling with limited access to clean water, food, and shelter. Health organisations, including MSF, have repeatedly called for unimpeded humanitarian access and the urgent restoration of medical infrastructure to prevent the crisis from escalating further.
As the war continues, the rise of antibiotic resistance threatens to claim more lives in Gaza — not just from bullets and bombs, but from infections that, under normal circumstances, would be easily treatable.
