Israeli blockade on Gaza killing Palestinian patients
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Palestinians living under the Israel occupation's blockade of Gaza are deprived of their rights to medical attention stipulated in international law.
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The Al-Wafaa hospital destroyed by the Israeli occupation's aggression on the Gaza Strip in 2014
The Israeli occupation's blockade of the Gaza Strip has had many grave repercussions for its population, violating the medical rights of some 50% of them, which international law guarantees, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.
1,922 Palestinian patients could not reach specialized hospitals in the occupied West Bank, occupied Al-Quds, and the occupied Palestinian territories in due time, as the Israeli occupation undermines their freedom of travel and uses various pretexts to procrastinate the issuance of permits, leaving many of them without proper treatment due to its arbitrary policies.
Ambulance drivers have been protesting against the status quo in occupied Palestine, which sees the Israeli occupation depriving, or at best restricting, patients of their freedom of movement through its blockade at the Beit Hanoun Crossing in Gaza.
"64% of the 1,619 patient applications to cross Beit Hanoun/Erez in July 2022 were approved," the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a monthly report in July. "Just under a third (30%) of applications were for children under 18 and close to a fifth (19%) were for patients over 60 years old."
"11 patients from the Gaza Strip were requested for security interrogation in July… One patient of the 11 (9%) were approved permit after interrogation, and 10 (91%) remained pending under study," the UN health watchdog added.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said some 371 patients left the blockaded strip for treatment unaccompanied, marking the highest toll in months.
Patients who are most at risk, mainly cancer, and heart disease patients, have their fates practically sealed, as the Israeli occupation always delays issuing exit permits for them, which leads many of them to die due to the lack of proper healthcare.
Patients suffering from kidney disease, especially kidney failure, are subject to a horrid reality, too. They cannot obtain their medication, rendering their condition unstable and spiraling their anemia out of control.
The Gaza Strip's medical sector is struggling in more ways than one, as the economy there is impeded by the blockade, making the authorities in Gaza unable to acquire the needed medical infrastructure and forcing it to rely on the Israeli occupation.
Still, even the medical equipment Gaza purchases to bolster its medical infrastructure is blocked from entry by the Israeli occupation. The health ministry said "Tel Aviv" was preventing the transfer of 21 diagnostic X-ray devices to the hospitals there while also not giving clearance to spare parts of medical devices to enter the Strip.
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The Strip's medical infrastructure is also subjected to all sorts of destruction, as the Israeli occupation uses its campaigns of aggression against the blockaded people to strike Gaza's hospitals, rendering them ruble as Palestinians are in a time of need of treatment due to the occupation's air strikes and shelling.
