Two years on: upgrading the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah

Over the last two years, the Red Cross Field Hospital has been a constant in Gaza's fractured health landscape. It has served as a primary facility for mass-casualty response during periods of intense hostilities, and as a primary-care centre for the steady, quiet suffering and the chronic, everyday health needs that persist. From treating weapon-wounded patients to providing timely obstetric and gynaecological care, the field hospital has offered moments of relief to thousands of people requiring health care in Gaza.

Since opening, the field hospital has facilitated more than 11,300 surgeries, 250,000 consultations, the delivery of more than 1,200 newborn babies, 19,200 physiotherapy sessions and at least 1,500 blood transfusions.

This collective effort has brought together the PRCS, the ICRC and National Societies from Australia, Austria, Canada, China (National Headquarters and Hong Kong branch), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom - each contributing staff, expertise, equipment or support to help sustain health care in Gaza.

The dedicated Red Cross and Red Crescent staff have continued to provide medical care day in and day out, supporting families in distress and accompanying patients along often long and uncertain paths to recovery.