HIV-Positive People In Gaza No Longer Have Access To Any Life-Saving Medication

With Israel‘s war with Hamas in Gaza remaining ongoing and a ceasefire talks only just beginning, access to life-saving HIV medications in Gaza has all but disappeared.

An investigative report and interview with a queer HIV+ Palestinian man by The Intercept has revealed the horrific difficulties experienced by HIV+ people in Gaza, particularly with sourcing life-saving medications like tenofovir and lopinavir/ritonavir.

The man, called E.S. to protect his identity, said that the blockades imposed by Israeli meant that HIV medication is not coming through, and supplies in the region have run out.

Doctors say that under the precarious conditions faced by those in Gaza, the effects of going without treatment could be felt in days.

History of HIV management in Gaza

Before the war, Gaza’s Ministry of Health provided a fragile but functional system for HIV care. The region had historically reported only around 100 cases of HIV, but this figure likely reflected under-diagnosis and stigma rather than the true scope.  

Speaking to Poz, the essay’s co-author Afeef Nessouli observed that “getting meds and care for HIV pre–October 7 was kind of normal, except for the societal stigma that would make folks with HIV feel pressured not to.”

“There’s also no open kind of network or support group there for people with HIV. Most people living with it would not know anyone else living with it. But right after October 7, the government apparently did contact everyone they knew living with HIV and gave them a three-month supply of meds, as opposed to the usual monthly supply.”

However, for people living with HIV in Gaza, the already challenging situation has completely broken down since October 2023. 

A desperate rush to find alternate sources

After the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, which led to devastating retaliatory strikes on Gaza, the health system collapsed. 

Hospitals were bombed, medical workers were killed, and critical supplies, including antiretrovirals, were blocked from entering the region. 

After his three months of medication ran out, E.S. relied on sporadic deliveries from aid groups, caches smuggled out from hospitals before they were destroyed, and rationing his medication. 

After those unreliable sources have been exhausted, he turned to Instagram, contacting Afeef Nessouli who had been reporting on queer Palestinian stories. “E.S. contacted me in March after seeing my Instagram, then a few days later revealed to me that he had HIV and didn’t want anybody to find out, but that he was running out of his HIV meds and didn’t know what he was going to do.” said Nessouli.

HIV medications sent from abroad stopped at border and confiscated

Dr. Tarek Loubani, a Palestinian-Canadian emergency doctor working with the medical aid organisation Glia, stepped in to help after seeing E.S.’s story. Loubani, who has visited Gaza more than 20 times despite once being shot, brought E.S. a three-month supply of medication.

However, the shipment was confiscated at Gaza’s border. The organisation and its volunteers were then banned from entering Gaza, which they believe was retaliation for a New York Times story criticising the conditions in Gaza, which they had been quoted in.

Loubani described how the Israeli military treated medical supplies “like weapons depots,” burning warehouses and stationing snipers outside depots to prevent access. While the Israeli government have denied these accusations, organisations such as the WHO and the UN have described a “systematic dismantling of the health system” in north Gaza. 

Transmission of HIV in Gaza now likely

In an interview with Democracy Now, the essay’s co-author Steven Thrasher noted “when you don’t have clean water, when you don’t have gloves, when you have people with open wounds on bloodsoaked floors, when you have people who not only lack gloves but lack medical training trying to save their neighbours after bombings, when there are so many shrapnel wounds, you cannot contain HIV or hepatitis or any blood-borne illnesses.”

Globally, wars have predictably exacerbated HIV transmission and hindered treatment. Destroyed infrastructure, lack of supplies and disruption to systems means that universal protocols for preventing blood-borne infections can’t be followed. This increases the risk of spreading diseases, including HIV. 

This is a major challenge for all those in war zones – but the unique social and humanitarian challenges faced by HIV+ people in the occupied territories of Palestine make these challenges almost insurmountable.