For the first time in Gaza .. US field hospital under the supervision of UN and country funding

Raed Moussa-Gaza

In the Gaza Strip, preparations are underway for the opening of the American field hospital, which is expected to receive patients next month.

The establishment of this hospital, which has been raised many questions, comes within the framework of calm understandings reached by the factions and forces in Gaza with Israel, sponsored by Egypt and the United Nations and funded by the country, and run by the US non-governmental organization "Ships Ships".

The former health minister in the tenth government formed by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Chairman of the Council on International Relations, Dr. Bassem Naim told Al Jazeera Net that the hospital comes within the framework of "addressing the state of collapse in the health sector in Gaza as a result of the siege, and has no policy or security dimensions ".

He added that the hospital will provide more advanced services, and supervised by the American NGO "We are not in a state of hostility with the American people", under the auspices and supervision of the United Nations and country.

Regarding the location of the hospital, which raised questions and doubts about its proximity to the Israeli security fence in the northern Gaza Strip, Naim said that any field hospital "is subject to security controls from the sponsoring state to ensure the freedom of movement of staff and staff", pointing out that the hospital will be subject to insurance The Palestinian Ministry of Interior will provide security coordination for patients.

Preparations and equipment
Over the past few hours, photos and video footage of an apparent US crew working on construction of the hospital on land adjacent to the Israeli security fence and the Israeli-controlled Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing have spread.

According to the Border and Crossing Authority, the hospital's equipment arrived in the past few weeks through the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing in the southeast of the Gaza Strip, while a team of engineers arrived last Tuesday to begin work on the establishment of the hospital and the installation of devices and equipment in preparation for its opening.

Iyad al-Bazam, spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Gaza, said that the hospital, like all institutions operating in Gaza, is under the responsibility of the Palestinian security services.

Al-Bazm told Al-Jazeera Net that the hospital seeks to provide medical services to citizens, "We are with every effort that serves our Palestinian people and meets their humanitarian needs."

In turn, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told Al-Jazeera Net that the decision to establish the hospital came because part of the siege has significantly affected the health conditions in the Gaza Strip due to Israeli policy and neglect of the West Bank government in dealing with medical conditions in Gaza.

He added that due to the deterioration of the health situation in Gaza, two tracks have been agreed upon, the first is the introduction of medicine from donors, and the second is the establishment of a field hospital belonging to humanitarian charities in agreement with all Palestinian factions.

Qassem confirmed that the hospital's work will be in full coordination with the Ministry of Health in Gaza, and the security services have the responsibility to secure it and also play its role with other institutions working in the sector.

He expressed his hope that the hospital will contribute to alleviate the health crisis in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli siege and the Palestinian Authority's policy towards the Strip.

Qassem urged the Palestinian Authority and the leadership of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) to lift the punitive measures imposed on the Gaza Strip, not to oppose projects that ease the siege, accusing those who oppose the establishment of the hospital that they want to keep the siege and the continuation of the humanitarian and health crisis in order to achieve narrow partisan goals.

Power is critical
In a statement issued last September, the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health said it refused to set up the hospital on the grounds that it "harms Palestinian sovereignty, the national project and the rights of our people."

She said that "this project seeks to achieve Israeli goals aimed at liquidating the Palestinian issue and fragmentation, and create additional justification for the creation of a state in the Gaza Strip at the expense of Palestinian history and rights."

The Ministry of Health rejected Hamas' justifications that the project has no political connotations, saying that the hospital "came in accordance with a political agreement between them (Hamas), Israel and America," and asked "how America, which cut off support for hospitals in occupied Jerusalem and threatened the lives of Palestinian patients to support the establishment of a hospital in the Gaza Strip Gaza? Unless the real purpose behind it is to harm the Palestinians and harm and destroy their rights. "

Palestinian medical sources told Al-Jazeera Net that an American and European medical staff will work in the hospital, in addition to a Palestinian nursing staff, and will provide advanced services related to serious and intractable diseases that do not have the necessary treatment in light of the limited possibilities in Gaza hospitals.

The hospital, which has an estimated capacity of about 500 beds, will ease the current pressure on medical referrals for treatment abroad due to the lack of treatment in Gaza, as well as the participation of Palestinian doctors in some operations to develop their capabilities and improve the performance of services provided in local health institutions. .