Palestinian girl Rasha al-Bayed, 5, who suffers from cerebral palsy, attends a physiotherapy session at Mabaret Falasteen charity. Treatment for an estimated 6,000 cerebral palsy patients poses a particular problem. Many families cannot afford the cost of care and some do not want to expose their loved ones' affliction to outsiders. And Gazan healthcare providers complain the Israeli blockade deprives them of vital resources.

Palestinian girl Nour Seyam, 3, who suffers from tonsillitis, is checked by a doctor at an outpatient clinic at Shifa hospital. Gaza, an enclave of two million Palestinians ruled by the anti-Israel Hamas movement, suffers from a chronic shortage of hospital beds, medical equipment and specialist physicians, says Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesman for Gaza's Health Ministry.

Image used for illustrative purposes. A doctor and nurses drink coffee as they take a break at Al Awda Hospital, a private medical facility.

A worker stands in a corridor at Shifa hospital, Gaza's largest public medical facility.

A Palestinian nurse prepares medical tools at Al Awda Hospital, a private medical facility.

Palestinian patients present their documents as they wait to receive treatment at an outpatient clinic at Shifa hospital. Israel tightly restricts Palestinian passage from the Gaza Strip, one of its bitterest enemies. Although it exempts from the ban Gazans seeking "life-saving or life-changing medical treatment" if it is unavailable in the territory, crossing the border isn't easy.

An employee checks medicines at a medicine warehouse run by the health ministry.

Palestinian girl Marah Mokat, 4 months old, who fractured her leg, is carried by her father as she waits for medical checks at an outpatient clinic at Shifa hospital.

A nurse checks a document for a woman at Al Awda Hospital, a private medical facility.

Image used for illustrative purpose. Palestinian boy Riyad al-Zeitounya (C), 6, who suffers from cerebral palsy, attends a class at a school run by Mabaret Falasteen charity.

Palestinian boy Mohammed Bahtiti, 13, who fractured his leg, waits for medical checks at an outpatient clinic at Shifa hospital. Gaza human rights groups say Israeli security at the crossing with the territory sometimes question patients in an attempt to gather intelligence or recruit them as informers.

A view shows an operating room at Shifa hospital. Egypt, Gaza's neighbour to the south, is an option for those seeking medical checks, not urgent surgery, and patients who are barred from entering Israel. But the Egyptian government is at odds with Hamas and keeps its own frontier with the Palestinian territory largely closed. It opens the crossing once every 40 days, for a few days each time. Qidra said at least half those who apply for treatment in Israel or the occupied West Bank are turned down by Israeli authorities.

Palestinian boy Mohammed al-Laham undergoes a kidney dialysis at a public paediatric hospital in Gaza City. In figures posted on the website a month ago, COGAT said that between January 2015 and September 2016, some 200 medical personnel from the Gaza Strip participated in training courses at leading hospitals in Israel.

Doctors and medics perform a surgery for Palestinian woman Sadeya al-Shafi, 60, in the operating room at Shifa hospital.

Image used for illustrative purpose. Palestinian technicians work in a laboratory at Al Awda Hospital, a private medical facility in the northern Gaza Strip.

Palestinian boy Mohammed Bahtiti (L), 13, who fractured his leg, waits for medical checks at an outpatient clinic at Shifa hospital, Gaza's largest public medical facility, in Gaza City. For many patients suffering from life-threatening diseases in the Gaza Strip, treatment in neighboring Israel or the occupied West Bank is a much sought-after option.