ABDALLAH ALABADLA REMEMBERS THE NIGHT HE thought he was going to die. The college student had fled his home in Gaza City for Khan Younis, a place he thought would be safer. But soon after arriving, he found the city emptied of critical medical supplies.
"I went to every pharmacy in the area where I was staying, desperately looking for insulin," he said in a phone interview from Cairo, where he evacuated in March. "I thought I was going to die because I didn't find it. I don't know how to describe it. It was a horrible moment."
Alabadla, 23, was in his final semester at Al-Aqsa University, where he studied English literature before the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas and subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza. He also has Type 1 diabetes and relies on taking insulin daily to stay alive.
Before the launch of Israel's offensive seeking to release the Israeli hostages and destroy Hamas, United Nations bodies estimated that up to 71,000 Palestinians in Gaza were living with diabetes as of November 2023. It is not known now how many of them have since fled or been killed.
Insulin is one of the medicines in "acute shortage" in Gaza, according to the World Health Organization, recalling a time before the advent of insulin therapy, when having diabetes-today considered a treatable condition almost always meant a death sentence within a matter of days or weeks.
Alabadla and others say they have gone to extreme measures to survive the shortage. They now frequently switch between multiple types of insulin based on availability rather than what is recommended for their unique needs, use expired insulin or resort to insulin rationing-a potentially fatal practice.
Dr. Waseem Alzaanin is a physician in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. Like Alabadla, he has Type 1 diabetes.
Bu hikaye Newsweek US dergisinin August 02 - 09, 2024 (Double Issue) sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Newsweek US dergisinin August 02 - 09, 2024 (Double Issue) sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Wendi McLendon-Covey
AFTER 10 YEARS OF PLAYING BEVERLY GOLDBERG ON THE GOLDBERGS, Wendi McLendon-Covey was not eager for a break. \"I need to go do a job where I can just throw everything at it and then come home totally exhausted.\"
'I'm the Highest Earner in Esports'
Johan \"NOtail\" Sundstein has won over $7 million but says, \"I don't really crave that status.... I play for my own reasons\"
AMERICA'S BEST Weight Loss CLINICS & CENTERS 2025
WHETHER IT'S FOR MEAL PLANS, PROFESSIONAL guidance or access to medications like GLP-1s, weight loss clinics can offer personalized assistance for those hoping to make sustainable lifestyle changes.
AMERICA'S MOST ANTICIPATED NEW VEHICAL 2025
WHETHER IT'S A NEWLY IMAGined sport utility vehicle or the re-emergence of a highly regarded halo car, the vehicles coming to market in 2025 prove that Americans' attitudes about personal transportation are diverse and are being served from all angles.
'THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE'
What Donald Trump's historic U.S. presidential election victory means to America - and the world
Trump Won, Mainstream Media Lost
A broken business model exacerbated by a collapse in influence has the Fourth Estate entering another Donald Trump term in trouble
Can Alternative Therapies Treat Cancer?
Doctor and breast cancer survivor Liz O'Riordan addresses misinformation around managing the disease
Falling for Romance
A new book, Nora Ephron at the Movies, celebrates the writer/director best known for her iconic rom-coms and strong female characters
Cracking the Norse Code
Walrus DNA has shown that Vikings were likely the first to have encountered Indigenous North Americans
Monumental Shift
The discovery of 165-million-year-old crystals Easter Island has upended the longheld notion of how the Earth's \"conveyor belt\" moves