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Gaza girl in need of transplant travels without parents after Israel denies permits

February 28, 2018 at 4:15 pm

Twelve-year-old Palestinian from Gaza Inaam Al-Attar cries after arriving at the Palestine Medical Centre in Ramallah without her parents as they were denied permission to travel by Israel [Mohammed Hamouda/Twitter]

A Palestinian girl was forced to travel without either of her parents to the central occupied West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday in order to have a kidney transplant.

Twelve-year-old Inaam Al-Attar arrived at the Palestine Medical Centre in Ramallah with her uncle, who she is receiving the transplant from, after her parents were denied permission to travel with her from the besieged coastal enclave.

The governor of Ramallah, Laila Ghannam, welcomed Inaam, who was filmed by several Palestinian news channels crying in the hospital saying she wanted to see her mother.

Inaam’s mother, Salwa, was given permission by Israel to be with her daughter earlier today, the Palestinian Authority (PA) owned Wafa news agency reported.

Earlier this month, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), and Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) released a joint statement saying the record-low rate of permits issued by Israel for Palestinians seeking vital medical treatment outside Gaza “underlines the urgent need for Israel to end its decade-long closure of the Gaza Strip”.

Read: 54 Palestinians from Gaza died in 2017 awaiting Israeli travel permits