Ahmed Zaaneen’s voice is pressing at the other end of the line which sizzles from Beit Hanoun, in the Gaza Strip. “Every minute counts”, assures the 36-year-old Palestinian. Her 14-year-old daughter Hiba was diagnosed with a brain tumor.
“The doctor explained to us that this kind of operation was not possible here, says the father. Her life is in danger. ” The family received approval from a Palestinian hospital in East Jerusalem, an hour and a half drive away, to have Hiba operated on. An appointment was made for June 18. But the teenager has not been able to get out of the Gaza Strip under Israeli blockade in time for over thirteen years.
Patients need a permit to go for treatment outside the enclave, precious sesame that Israel gives drop by drop, after numerous checks. Since the end of May, almost no further authorizations have been issued. The Palestinian Authority, which forwards the demands to the Hebrew state, has suspended most of its cooperation agreements with Israel to protest the plans to annex part of the occupied West Bank as early as July.
It took the hospital’s intervention for Hiba to finally obtain a permit to travel to East Jerusalem. The adolescent’s condition has meanwhile deteriorated; she is going to have to undergo two operations.
Omar Yaghi, on the other hand, could not be operated on. On June 18, this 8-month-old baby died of a heart defect in Gaza. His permit to be treated in Israel had been delayed for a month after the suspension of coordination between the Palestinian Authority and the Hebrew state, according to the Israeli NGO Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) -Israel.
“Our people are suffering”
Ran Goldstein, its executive director, believes that“There could be hundreds of patients” awaiting a permit in the Palestinian enclave.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, about 2,000 Palestinian patients left the Gaza Strip each month for treatment, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In the West Bank, patients can apply for a permit directly from the Israelis, by going to the civil administration or through a mobile application. This is not possible in the Gaza Strip. Since the end of May, some NGOs and some hospitals have been trying to help individual cases. “But that represents a very small number of patients”, reports Gerald Rockenschaub, Director of WHO in the Palestinian Territories.
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