For thousands of wounded Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, surviving an airstrike or shelling attack does not mark the end of the ordeal. For many, the war has effectively moved inside their own bodies, where fragments of rockets and artillery shells remain lodged, becoming a permanent and often untreatable source of pain.
According to a special report by Shehab, doctors across Gaza’s overwhelmed hospitals report treating large numbers of patients carrying embedded shrapnel that cannot be safely removed, either due to its location near vital organs, nerves, or blood vessels, or because of the severe shortage of specialized surgical equipment and expertise needed to extract it safely.
The report describes patients living with chronic pain, recurring infections, and restricted mobility, with some fragments shifting over time and causing new complications years — or in the ongoing case of Gaza, months — after the initial injury. Medical staff say the psychological toll compounds the physical suffering, as patients are forced to live with a constant physical reminder of the trauma they endured.
The report links this crisis directly to the broader collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system, which has been battered by nearly two years of war, chronic shortages of medical supplies, damaged or destroyed hospitals, and an overwhelming caseload that leaves specialized procedures — such as complex shrapnel-removal surgeries — low on the list of priorities compared to acute, life-threatening cases.
Medical sources cited in the report warn that without a significant increase in specialized surgical capacity and equipment entering Gaza, thousands of survivors may be forced to live indefinitely with these injuries, turning what should have been a moment of survival into a lasting, unresolved medical condition.
