Cancer patient dies after Israel refuses medical referral

A young Palestinian from Jenin’s southern town of Jaba in the West Bank died of cancer on Monday after Israeli authorities banned him from travelling for urgent treatment.

Jaba’s public relations official Hamza Hamdan told Quds Press that 22-year-old Jawdat Ahmed Muflih died from liver cancer after his health deteriorated over the past few weeks.

Read: Treatment referrals for Gaza patients down by 75%

Hamdan added that Muflih’s family submitted several medical transfer requests to Palestinian authorities but Israel rebuffed the patient’s appeals for an urgent medical transfer citing security related reasons.

وفاة الشاب جودت أحمد مفلح"22 عامًا"من جنين الذي يعاني من مرض السرطان،بعد رفض الاحتلال منحه تصريح دخول لأراضي الـ48 للعلاج أو السفر للخارج pic.twitter.com/BjvpGzRqYV

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) August 8, 2017

In recent months the number of medical referrals that Israel authorises has dropped dramatically leaving patients stuck at border crossings or in medical facilities with inadequate facilities, both in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.

In July rights groups revealed that the Palestinian Authority reduced treatment referrals for Palestinian patients in the Gaza Strip by 75 per cent and warned that this would have a disastrous impact on the lives of hundreds of patients who are in urgent need of medical treatment abroad.