Breast cancer patients in Gaza .. Between the lack of treatment hammer and anvil prevent travel

Raed Moussa-Gaza

Mudallala and Jamila Freij, two 60-year-old sisters, were diagnosed with cancer. The first was the victim of the Israeli ban on travel to hospitals in the West Bank. (Erez) Northern Gaza Strip.

Two years ago, the 63-year-old Palestinian civilian was prevented from traveling to Gaza for treatment without any justification.

She told Al Jazeera Net that since she got the malignant disease in 2007, she has been able to receive treatment at the Hebron Hospital in the West Bank only twice.And nearly two years ago, the Israeli authorities refused to grant her permission to pass through Erez and thousands of other patients.

Vortex the disease and provide treatment
Four times, she applied for an Israeli permit to continue her treatment, and each time she faced unjustified rejection, she said, `` a ruthless occupation, and deliberately that the patient in Gaza will continue to live in a cycle of disease, pain and constant thinking about providing treatment. ''

Cancer treatments are not available in the Gaza Strip, which has been under a stifling Israeli blockade for nearly 13 years, making patients desperate to travel for treatment in hospitals in the West Bank and Israel, before the Palestinian Authority decided a few months ago to stop medical transfers to Israeli hospitals.

Despite the pain of the disease, Ms Mudalala, who gave birth to nine children, has a strong sense of humor and strong will, refuses to give up and despair and lives her life sweet and bitter.

The easiest way and hard decision
Jamila chose the easiest route, but made the difficult decision, and underwent a mastectomy in Gaza, so as not to suffer with the procrastination of the occupation authorities, and manipulation in the lives of patients and their psyche.

Jamila, 59, told Al Jazeera Net that what her sister went through is going through many patients in Gaza, and what she heard from painful stories about patients whose health has deteriorated, some of whom passed away, while waiting for the travel permit for treatment, made her feel free to take The difficult decision to remove the right breast that has been affected by cancer.

As Jamila survived cancer, her family survived an Israeli shell that hit her home, her husband and their 10 children during the 2014 war in Gaza.

Restrictions of the occupation and its flimsy arguments
According to Bassem Abu Jari, a researcher at the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, the situation of patients in Gaza, especially cancer patients, is deteriorating seriously due to Israeli restrictions and restrictions.

Abu Jeri explained to Al Jazeera Net that the patient's fulfillment of all procedures and access to medical referral does not mean that he will receive appropriate health care for his condition, where the restrictions of the occupation is an obstacle to the arrival of the patient to the hospital on time.

He described the justifications of the occupation authorities to refuse the permits of patients as "weak security arguments", and the fact that the occupation measures come in the context of collective punishment on the people of Gaza.

About 40% of patients' requests for travel permits were rejected or stalled, said Abu Jiri, while allowing the patient and his companion to leave Gaza fears of their detention, or one of them, as the number of sick and accompanying detainees at the Erez crossing between 2015 and the first half This year 13 patients.

According to the human rights researcher, the data indicate that during the same period, 56 patients died, including 21 women with cancer and other serious diseases.

He said that Israel, which is blocking the travel of patients for treatment, is aware of the seriousness of this risk to their lives, because of its precise knowledge of the inability of the health sector in Gaza to deal with many critical cases.

Breast cancer 35 % of infections
The medical director at Basmat Amal Foundation for Cancer Care, consultant oncologist and internist Ziad Al-Khazindar, Hadith Abu Jari, said that the health situation in Gaza is in a state of collapse.

Al-Khazindar explained to Al-Jazeera Net that the available capabilities in terms of medical and nursing staff, the protocol of treatment and medications are not fully commensurate with the marked increase in the number of cancer patients, including breast cancer patients.

"We suffer in Gaza from a severe shortage of cancer specialists, specialized nursing staff, poor absorptive capacity in health facilities, in addition to the lack of chemotherapy, the lack of radiation and atomic scanning devices, the lack of biological treatment and specialized laboratories, and the lack of hormonal treatment permanently." , Due to the Israeli blockade and internal division.

This grim reality casts a heavy and dangerous shadow on the lives of 16,000 cancer patients, and the number continues to increase with the discovery of 120 new cases per month, breast cancer accounts for about 35% of the total patients, according to Dr. Khazindar.