In Her Hands

In Her Hands is Amos Trust’s campaign to respond to the urgent need for breast cancer screening in Gaza, and to pressure the Israeli government to allow the free flow of medical supplies into Gaza, and medical evacuations from Gaza.

Imagine

Imagine you’re a mother living in a displacement camp on Gaza’s beach. Nine of you share one tent, battling rats and flies. No privacy. No running water. Nowhere to wash, and awful communal toilets. Your children still know hunger. Their moods swing from rage to silence, and every night they scream from nightmares.

This is your family — your husband, your children, your brother’s two youngest. They have lost their home, their friends, their world. They depend on you to hold them together. They are in your hands.

You’ve lost so much weight since the genocide began. Would you notice if something felt wrong? Would you check your breasts for lumps?

And if you found one — where would you even get it checked? Who could you ask, when you don’t want your family to find out? Is there even any treatment left in Gaza?

Help us start the conversation

A woman in Gaza speaking to her doctor.

We’re launching In Her Hands this October — Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the UK, and Rosy October in Palestine, the region’s own breast cancer awareness campaign.

But first, we need your help getting the conversation started before we launch.

We’re looking for people willing to make and share a short post inviting people to imagine what it would be like to be a woman in Gaza who’s just found a lump.

We’re especially keen to hear from anyone, women or men, touched by breast cancer — whether that’s your own experience, or that of a wife, sister, friend or mum.

Her hands are full. Lend yours.

Email [email protected] and we’ll send you the details.

Breast Cancer in Gaza Today

Watch our short film about breast cancer in Gaza →

Amos Trust has supported Al Ahli Hospital’s breast cancer awareness and screening programme in Gaza City since 2013.

Before the genocide, fatality rates in Gaza were three times higher than in the UK. Women often came forward late for treatment, and Israel banned radiotherapy in Gaza and routinely denied medical evacuations.

Al Ahli’s campaigns on self-examination and screening were led by women who had been through treatment themselves. They reached communities across northern Gaza, inviting women into the hospital’s diagnostic unit for training in self-examination and, for those over 40 or otherwise at risk, for mammograms.

The hospital had just launched its 2023 screening campaign when the genocide began.

Over the next two years, 33 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals were destroyed or badly damaged, and 1,700 health workers were killed. Al Ahli was attacked nine times; its diagnostic unit was hit twice, though the mammogram and other equipment survived with only superficial damage.

With functioning hospitals forced to prioritise major injuries, cancer diagnosis and treatment came to a halt. Once the ceasefire was declared, Al Ahli, with Amos Trust’s support, relaunched its breast cancer screening programme in January 2026. It is now the only hospital in Gaza with a working mammogram — of the nine that had one before the war.

The community networks that once carried the programme’s outreach no longer exist. Convincing women in the displacement camps — women who have lost so much, and who hold their families together — to prioritise their own health now rests on one highly skilled community outreach worker.

Because of her persistence, 569 women received mammograms in the first six months of the year, and 35 were referred for further investigation.

Watch our short film about Al Ahli Arab Hospital →

For those needing further treatment, only one government hospital can now provide surgery, and it faces severe shortages of medical supplies and chemotherapy drugs. Gaza still has no radiotherapy, and an estimated 11,000 patients are without access to the specialised cancer care they need. As of June, only 2,100 of the 18,500 people needing medical evacuation had been allowed to leave.

This is why early detection, lumpectomy and surgery are often a woman’s only hope — and why reaching women in the displacement camps, teaching them self-examination, and getting them to a mammogram matters so much.

Get involved

In Her Hands events happen throughout the year, especially during October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month, or ‘Rosy October’ as it’s known in Gaza). Interested in hosting an event? Get in touch and we’ll support you with resources, information and ideas.

Contact us at [email protected]
Donate to support Al Ahli Hospital →
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