Providing Medical Services Under Impossible Conditions

During the intense Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, the occupation destroyed the two pharmacies I owned in Gaza City; I lost my job and sole source of income. Despite this, I felt a responsibility to serve the displaced people of my nation. I opened a small pharmacy in the tent where I now live, having been displaced myself. I work around the clock to provide medical services and medications to thousands of displaced people, finding great happiness in alleviating their suffering. This is my situation and the situation of hundreds of thousands of displaced people who have lost most medical services during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. My name is Ahmed Nasr Halas, and I am 42 years old.

I studied pharmacy in Ukraine at Zaporizhzhia State Medical University, graduating in 2007. Then, I returned to Palestine, my homeland, where I lived with my family in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood, east of Gaza City. I got married, and God blessed me with eight children. I lived a happy life with them.

At the beginning of my career, I worked as a pharmacist in several private pharmacies in the Gaza Strip. My first dream as a pharmacist was to open my own pharmacy. I worked hard to make this a reality, and in 2010, I opened my own pharmacy on Green Market Street in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood and named it “Ahmed Pharm 1.” I provided medical services to residents during the Israeli war on Gaza in 2012, the 2014 war, and during all the other rounds of aggression waged by the occupation on Gaza before this war.

I continued to work in my pharmacy, gaining experience, and getting to know the hundreds of patients who visited my pharmacy constantly. I earned people’s trust, which encouraged me to open a second pharmacy in 2014, also in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood, near Abu Maher Halas Square. I named it “Ahmed Pharm 2.” My happiness was immense, and I spent all my time serving my patients and providing them with medical services.
 
I come from a well-known family in Gaza City, which added to peoples’ confidence in my services. I provided most of the medications needed by patients, developed my business, and provided job opportunities for four of my colleagues in the two pharmacies I owned.

From the beginning, my dream was their dream. We worked together, succeeded together, and shared everything together. I had bigger dreams too, like opening my own pharmaceutical company, completing my master’s and doctoral degrees in my specialization, and opening more pharmacies in different areas of the Gaza Strip to provide services to citizens and develop my business.

At the beginning of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, I continued to work in my pharmacies, providing medical services to all the patients in Shuja’iyya neighbourhood. However, during the early days of the war, the occupation bombed a nearby mosque, Al-Islah Mosque, which completely destroyed my second pharmacy. Like most Gaza City residents, I fled with my family. The journey of displacement was harsh and bitter. I spent two weeks in the Nuseirat camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip. The occupation bombed the building we had taken refuge in, so I moved with my family to the village of Al-Zawayda for a month. After the occupation bombed the area surrounding where we were living, I moved again with my family to the city of Rafah, where we stayed for a month. Due to severe overcrowding, we moved to Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip.

My remaining friends in Shuja’iyya told me that the occupation had destroyed my first pharmacy during the third month of the war when they invaded Gaza City. Thus, the occupation destroyed the dream I had worked so hard to achieve, the dream I spent many sleepless nights working towards.

I lost my home when the occupation bombed Shuja’iyya. The occupation deprived me of my home and my job, and my four colleagues lost their jobs as well. Since the beginning of the war, we have been jobless, living in tents under catastrophic health conditions. We lack all the essentials of life – we have no treatment, no medicine, no water, and no food. In addition to the continuous Israeli bombing across all the provinces of the Gaza Strip, we feel unsafe in any area, as the occupation has turned the Gaza Strip into a major battlefield.

I got the idea of opening a pharmacy in the tent where I live, considering the tens of thousands of displaced people in the city of Deir al-Balah. I live in a tent for displaced people directly on the seafront street. There are no pharmacies in the displacement camp, and the pharmacies that are still operating are far from the displaced people’s tents. It’s very risky for people to try to get medicine from pharmacies in the centre of Deir al-Balah, especially when the Israeli bombing intensifies at night.

I thought about how I could alleviate the suffering of the displaced people in the city of Deir al-Balah. So, I decided to open a pharmacy in the tent I live in, and I put up a small sign across the tent that read “Ahmed Pharm.” I made some shelves from wood, and I covered my tent with nylon to protect it from the rain. I bought some medicines and started my work in the tent. There was a large turnout of displaced people at my pharmacy. Initially, I felt a bit embarrassed, but after hearing encouraging words from the people and seeing the happiness on the faces of my patients, I decided to continue my work at the pharmacy in my tent. I provide urgent medications needed by the displaced, and continue to work there late into the night.

I face significant difficulties in providing medications because many pharmaceutical companies in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed. The remaining few are closed and have not been operational since the beginning of the war. Additionally, the occupation has destroyed much of the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip, shutting down many hospitals and health centres completely, depriving over two million Palestinians of their right to treatment and access to medication.

I walk long distances, but in the end, I’ve only been able to find painkillers, antibiotics, gastrointestinal medications, and some other basic supplies needed by the displaced. I wish I could offer more services and medications to the displaced, but the current circumstances prevent me from doing so. I lack the funds to purchase more medications, and I don’t have transportation to visit pharmacies that are still operational in Rafah. Additionally, some medications require refrigeration, and we lack electricity and solar power devices to operate the refrigerators. The quantity of medications is very limited, and many diseases have spread among the displaced due to water shortages and the occupation’s bombing of sewage networks.

I go out to displaced people’s tents every night to provide them with some injections and medications they need. This requires great effort from me, but I am happy to serve the displaced and alleviate their suffering. I feel a great sense of joy when I relieve people’s pain and provide them with the necessary medications. All those living in tents have been deprived of their homes by the occupation and forced into a new life they are not accustomed to and cannot adapt to.

I dream that the war will stop immediately and that I will soon be able to rebuild my two pharmacies and resume their operations to serve my family, neighbours, and all patients in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood. It is true that the occupation destroyed the pharmacies I worked hard to open, but my dream is still alive. I still dream of opening a pharmaceutical company and completing my master’s and doctoral studies.

I hope the world looks at us with humanity and stops this war. They should provide medicine and medical equipment to the people of the Gaza Strip. I am doing my duty to the best of my ability during this harsh war, and it is the duty of the international community to stop the war, rebuild the Gaza Strip, and hold the occupation accountable for its unlimited crimes against all of the people of Gaza. The occupation has destroyed our lives, ruined everything we have, and made us live in tents for more than seven months. However, we are determined to continue our dream and rebuild Gaza, which we love, were born in, and will not abandon. We will continue to develop Gaza to provide a suitable life for our children.