Ahli Hospital Today: A Conversation with Dr. Suhaila Tarazi

Three years of war have changed what it means to be a hospital in Gaza. At Al Ahli Arab Hospital, emergency care continues every day, even as the hospital confronts another urgent reality: thousands of people need surgeries, rehabilitation, cancer screening, maternity care, and other medical services that have been delayed or disrupted for years.

In a recent conversation with AFEDJ, Dr. Suhaila Tarazi, General Director of Ahli Hospital, shared that the hospital receives between 150 and 200 emergency cases each day and serves more than 10,000 patients each month.

“We are a small hospital of 50 beds,” Dr. Tarazi said. “To do such a thing means working day and night.”

Responding to emergency and everyday medical needs

With much of Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure damaged or no longer functional, Ahli constantly receives emergency casualties from northern and eastern Gaza. Day after day, its team treats incoming trauma cases while simultaneously treating patients who have waited months, or even years, for routine medical care.

Last month alone, Ahli performed approximately 600 operations, including long-overdue procedures for non-emergency conditions. Its physical therapy and rehabilitation department treats more than 60 patients each day, helping people who need additional care following earlier surgeries for war-related injuries, while the wound care unit manages roughly 150 patients each day.

Renewing attention to women’s health

For years, women’s healthcare has been pushed to the margins. As Gaza’s limited healthcare resources have been overwhelmingly directed toward emergency and trauma care, many women have gone without routine screenings and treatment.

Ahli is working to restore some of that care. The hospital has renovated its maternity and obstetrics department, reopening its doors so women can safely deliver their babies. From emergency trauma to maternal care, the hospital continues to adapt to meet those changing needs. “Our services are built on the needs of the community,” Dr. Tarazi said.

Breast cancer screening is another important part of that work. Ten years ago, a grant from Islamic Relief USA, made in partnership with AFEDJ, brought a digital mammography machine to Ahli, giving women in Gaza access to life-saving breast cancer screening. Today, Dr. Tarazi says that it is the only functioning mammography machine serving patients in northern Gaza. This year, the hospital has already screened more than 1,000 women for breast cancer, detecting approximately 70 cases.

But access to diagnostic care is only one part of the problem. Physical access remains a critical barrier: transportation to and from Ahli often costs around $20, matching the subsidized price of the screening itself.

Shortages continue to threaten care

Keeping these services running demands constant resourcefulness from Ahli’s staff. The hospital needs roughly 800 liters each day to operate, even as costs soar and supplies become increasingly difficult to obtain. Shortages of medical equipment and supplies create another challenge, forcing staff to repair aging or malfunctioning equipment so they can continue caring for patients.

The workload is equally daunting. A team of 175 employees, assisted by additional volunteers, care for as many as 450 to 500 patients each day within Ahli’s small compound.

Despite these pressures, the hospital has found new ways to expand and restore care. Ahli has established a new operating theater, expanded rehabilitation services, and is planting a garden for children with disabilities receiving treatment through the Jerusalem Princess Basma Centre’s satellite unit at the hospital.

There are other signs of renewal on the hospital grounds. Trees and gardens burned during the war left once-green spaces blackened. Staff are planting again, and Dr. Tarazi says “an oasis of green” is beginning to return.

For patients and staff who have endured nearly three years of war and twelve attacks on the hospital, restoring those spaces brings back a small piece of normal life.

Dr. Tarazi credits Ahli’s committed staff and longstanding partners with helping the hospital continue. She describes AFEDJ’s relationship with Ahli in those terms: not simply donor and recipient, but partners in a shared mission.

“This partnership means a lot,” she said. “It is part of the success of the mission of Ahli Hospital. We are so grateful to our American Friends for that.”

Help Care Reach Every Corner of the Diocese

Ahli’s story is one part of a much larger network of care. Across Palestine, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon, institutions of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem respond to the needs of the communities they know and serve.

When you give to AFEDJ directed to where the need is greatest, you give the Diocese the resources to respond where care is needed most, from hospitals like Ahli to schools, rehabilitation centers, and other institutions serving people throughout the Holy Land.

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