The Yaghi family will not forget its nine-month-old baby, who died in front of her on June 18, and is unable to do anything in light of the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip.
The infant Omar was suffering from an incurable heart disease, and Israel prevented him from leaving Gaza to complete his treatment abroad, and since his birth he had performed three heart surgeries, and he needed to get out of the Strip to complete his treatment that is not available in Gaza, but Israel prevented him from doing this twice, according to what His grandfather Iyad Yaghi, 70, says, and Yagi holds the Israeli side fully responsible for the death of his grandson, calling on the international community to stop the suffering of Gaza patients.
The infant is one of dozens of victims who lost their lives as a result of the Israeli deprivation of sick Palestinians of their right to free access to treatment that does not exist in Gaza, due to the siege imposed on the Strip for nearly 14 years.
Thousands of sick Palestinians in Gaza are forced to go to hospitals in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, or Israel through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing, which is under Israeli control, to receive treatment, but Israel often refuses to issue permits that allow patients to cross and reach Their destination.
Today, the suffering has increased, as patients complain of the absolute Israeli refusal to reach hospitals outside Gaza through the Beit Hanoun crossing on the pretext of the Palestinian Authority stopping coordination with the Israeli authorities.
On May 19 last year, the Palestinian leadership decided to suspend all forms of relationship with Israel, including security coordination, in response to the latter's intention to annex parts of the West Bank.
The suffering of the sick
Myra Al-Fajim, a four-year-old girl from Khan Yunis, south of the Strip, has been suffering from a cancerous tumor in her right eye for four months. She completely lost sight of that eye, while the tumor moved to her brain, according to her mother, Maryam.
The mother is afraid that her daughter will lose eyesight in her second eye, or that she will lose her life due to the spread of a tumor in the brain, as some doctors have warned her, as the girl who does not have a treatment inside Gaza is unable to leave the Strip due to the Israeli prohibition, against the backdrop of the Authority's suspension of civil coordination With Israel.
The family calls on legal and official institutions to take immediate action to help Mira get treatment and save her life.
Mira, the child, is not the only one in the Al-Fajim family who suffers from cancer, and she is unable to travel for treatment. She found "Abu Abdullah", who is also suffering from a blockage in the gallbladder and liver due to a cancerous tumor, and there is no treatment in Gaza.
The deteriorating economic conditions of the al-Fajim family and other patients prevent the provision of analgesics to cancer patients many times.
A humanitarian catastrophe
The Euromed Observatory for Human Rights warns that the Israeli absolute refusal to issue passes through the Erez crossing for Gaza patients on the pretext of stopping coordination, warns of a serious humanitarian catastrophe against patients.
The observatory's legal advisor, Mohamed Imad, says this measure is worrying, especially since the lives of hundreds of patients who need treatment outside the Gaza Strip are threatened.
Imad considers that the Israeli intransigence in allowing patients to complete their treatment abroad is a crime added to its series of crimes against the people of Gaza, and indicates that Israel has intentionally restricted years to patients whether by delaying the issuance of their passes despite the necessary financial coverage by the Palestinian Authority and the Ministry of Health.
He adds that this systematic policy resulted in thousands of being denied their right to treatment, and dozens of patients died while waiting for a pass.
Imad notes that these Israeli practices require trial, in accordance with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
He explains that Israeli practices violate many international instruments and laws, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees the right to movement and access to health services, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Imad calls on the international community to intervene urgently and put pressure on the Israeli authorities to open the crossings for the passage of patients from the Gaza Strip without any conditions.
It also calls on the United Nations to implement its legal and moral obligations towards the citizens of Gaza, who have destroyed the Israeli blockade in all aspects of their economic, health and social lives.
Patient risks
The director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Raji Sourani, warns of the absence of services to coordinate the passage of patients through the crossings, to complete their treatment abroad.
Sourani says that this may result in the death of patients in the absence of permits within hours or days, especially for emergencies.
He pointed out that his center had recently had to stop its legal services, with regard to the file of patients to facilitate their exit from the Gaza Strip to receive treatment, and this decision came after 15 years of the center's work in helping patients access hospitals outside Gaza to complete treatment.
It indicates that the center was interfering legally with the Israeli Public Prosecutor's Office, or the Israeli High Court of Justice when a request to leave a patient to the Gaza Strip was refused in order to receive treatment.
He added, "Our intervention was often responded to, and the patient leaves the sector to complete his treatment."
The center tried to continue its work after the Palestinian leadership announced that it would stop coordination with Israel, but Israel is trying to use the matter politically.
Sourani regrets this, especially in light of the limited medical capabilities in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli blockade.
Israeli blockade
Sourani holds Israel fully responsible for the weak health sector in Gaza, and says it is primarily responsible for the lack of development of the medical infrastructure in Gaza as a result of the unjust blockade imposed by it from 14 years.
He adds that Israel does not permanently allow the entry of tools and devices necessary to provide radiation therapy, and it also prevents the entry of part of the special chemotherapy for cancer patients.
He points out that his center has contacted several international human rights and health organizations to formulate a specific solution for the suffering of the Gaza Strip patients, but there is no response so far, and according to the center, the Gaza Strip recorded the death of three patients since the beginning of 2020, due to preventing them from traveling and procrastination with these measures.
The center said in a previous statement, that Israel prevented the travel of about 51 thousand patients out of 179 thousand and 746, who asked to go out for treatment in its hospitals or other hospitals in the West Bank, between January 2008 and December 2018.
The report added that during the past year, Israel prevented only 35% of Gaza patients who need treatment in Israeli hospitals or West Bank hospitals, from moving through "Erez".
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, the year 2018 witnessed the death of 56 cases, which Israel did not allow to treat outside Gaza, while many cases of chronic diseases such as kidney failure and cancer continued to suffer within the Strip.