Gaza -

“One day at home, two days in the hospital.” This is the case of the child, Arwa Al-Dardisi, who suffers from a “troubled and unstable health condition”, as a result of the Israeli occupation authorities preventing her from traveling from Gaza to reach an Israeli hospital, where she underwent a delicate surgery earlier this year.

In January of this year, Arwa, 6, underwent surgery in an Israeli hospital, to treat health problems in the heart and kidneys, which she suffers from since birth, and requires advanced medical capabilities that are not available in Palestinian hospitals.

Since then, the family of the child, Arwa, from the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, has received 9 appointments from the hospital for review and follow-up treatment, but she was confronted with what her father Hamdan described to Al Jazeera Net as "Israeli procrastination."

suspended life

Hamdan - the child's father, Arwa - says that all requests for an Israeli permit to pass through the Beit Hanoun "Erez" crossing to reach the hospital, remained pending under the "under study" clause, and the hospital's appointment expired without rejection or acceptance of the request.

Arwa was born with health problems that she suffers from as a result of a hole in the heart and a defect in the kidneys, and her family lives with constant anxiety and fear for her life. According to her father, the family requested the help of the Israeli hospital and human rights organizations to obtain a permit for treatment, but to no avail.

Thousands of sick children in Gaza like Arwa, "whose souls are suspended between life and death", as a result of the policies of the occupation, and according to the "Physicians for Human Rights" - an Israeli non-governmental human rights organization - the past year witnessed a doubling in the refusal of the occupation authorities to the requests of underage children to undergo medical treatment. Hospitals in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Jordan.

The occupation refuses to grant Arwa Al-Dardisi a permit to complete her treatment (Al-Jazeera)

Jude (6 years) was better luck than Arwa, and her mother, Tahani Al-Omarin - to Al-Jazeera Net - says that after an Israeli refusal 4 times, she was issued last month with a permit to reach Al-Najah Hospital in the city of Nablus in the West Bank, where she is being treated for leukemia.

Joud's family discovered that she had cancer as a three-year-old girl, and obtained "financial coverage" from the Palestinian Authority for treatment at An-Najah Hospital, due to the lack of a "treatment protocol" for most cancers and incurable diseases in Gaza hospitals.

Tahani described the treatment journey outside Gaza as "a difficult one."

kill patients

Recent official data obtained by Physicians for Human Rights showed that the rate of rejection of requests by minors for the purpose of receiving medical care that is not available in Gaza hospitals jumped in 2021 to 32%, as the occupation authorities rejected or rejected 812 requests out of 2,578 requests, while The rejection rate is 17% for the same period in 2020.

The Israeli Human Rights Association, which provides assistance to Gaza patients in obtaining permits for treatment, attributed the high rate of refusal to the tightening of Israeli policies related to issuing exit permits for Gazan patients for several reasons, including: restrictions imposed by Israel due to the Corona pandemic, and the war on Gaza in May 2021.

Among the most important reasons for refusal cited by the association in its statement was Israel's refusal to allow parents of sick children to accompany them while they were undergoing medical care.

In such cases, sick minors who are not allowed to leave Gaza to receive health care at the time set by the hospitals are required to replace their companions, who are in most cases not first-degree relatives, and are asked to resubmit their application for consideration by the authorities. Israeli.

Israel rejects 32 of the sick Gaza children's requests for treatment abroad (Al-Jazeera)

The association quoted its volunteer, Dr. Oren Lahek, a medical psychologist and co-chair of the Israeli Psychiatric Association, as saying that separating a minor and his parents during his time in hospital “transformed between parents and providing emotional support in difficult times, and this attribution is necessary to build a sense of Confidence instilled in the child, as it is necessary for the physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development that follows treatment.”

"The closure imposed on the Gaza Strip has been going on for 15 years, causing distress to the lives of millions, and costing lives and bodies," said Ghada Majadla, director of the Occupied Territories Department.

She stressed that "Israel is a partner in a serious and ongoing crime, and harming patients, especially minors, and this is only one of the very dangerous manifestations of this siege."

"Israel should allow all children who are referred for medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip to access treatment on time, provided that at least one of the parents accompanies the minor while he is undergoing medical treatment," Majadleh said.

serious violations

The head of the "International Commission to Support the Rights of the Palestinian People", Dr. Salah Abdel-Ati - told Al Jazeera Net - that Israel continues to torture Gaza patients, especially children, and thus commits grave violations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and international agreements, the most important of which is the Geneva Convention and the First Protocol attached to its provisions.

According to official data with the commission, Abdel-Aty explained that the occupation authorities rejected 56% of requests to obtain permits for treatment outside Gaza.

Abdel-Aty said that the deteriorating reality in Gaza needs serious and effective international intervention to prevent Israel's efforts to "institutionalize the siege" and put real pressure to end the suffering of two million Palestinians as a result of this ongoing siege.