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5 Gaza patients died in 2022 due to Israel travel ban

September 8, 2022 at 10:11 am

Al-Shaer and another two children were transferred two days earlier to Al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem for medical attention. Other two children continue to be treated. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]

Five Palestinian patients – including three children – from Gaza have died this year after Israel banned them from leaving the besieged enclave to access medical treatement, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights said yesterday.

In a statement Al Mezan Centre said: “The most recent case of delay led to the death of Mohammed al-Ledawi, a 32-year-old cancer patient residing in Rafah City, on 6 September 2022, after being denied eight medical appointments at West Bank hospitals. The patient suffered from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.”

The Palestinian was denied the required permit to leave Gaza and travel to Jerusalem and Nablus to receive treatment “for eight different appointments” leading to the deterioration of his health, it added.

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“Al Mezan strongly condemns the discriminatory movement restrictions and the arbitrary permit system imposed by Israeli authorities on Palestinian patients from Gaza, which obstruct their access to hospitals outside the Strip.”

We reiterate that Israel’s draconian, stifling closure of Gaza serves to deny inhabitants their fundamental right to health, and other inalienable rights, as part of an entrenched system of oppression, domination, and discrimination against the Palestinian people. 

“Israel’s denials or delays of permits are not based on any valid reasons, but rather are part of the collective punishment and apartheid regime to which it subjects more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” it stressed.

The Gaza Strip has been under a strict Israeli siege since mid-2007, and the Israeli occupation does not even allow the entry of necessary medical equipment to the besieged enclave or allow patients to travel to the West Bank, Israel or abroad for treatment freely.