Patient

Tayseer Daoud Yousuf Al-Sayegh

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September 20, 2022: Tayseer Daoud Yousuf Al-Sayegh, 67, died after the Israeli authorities denied his travel for treatment at Al-Muttala Hospital in occupied Jerusalem.

Mikhail Yousuf Nicola Al-Nasrawi, 28, the patient’s companion, said that in a medical examination for Dr. al-Sayegh at al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City late in July 2022, doctors discovered a cancerous tumor spread in his lung and liver and confirmed the urgent need for an urgent treatment protocol that is not available in the Gaza Strip Hospitals and only available in Al-Muttala’ Hospital in occupied Jerusalem.

Al-Sayegh received a referral for medical referral and a hospital appointment on 05 September 2022.

He then applied for a permit to the Israeli authorities to travel via Beit Hanoun ‘Erez’ crossing and receive treatment at the Hospital on the date appointed for his treatment, yet the latter delayed responding to his travel permit and the appointment date expired.

As a result, he had to obtain a new appointment on October 22, 2022, and applied again for the permit to allow him to travel.

The patient headed to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) to help him obtaining a permit, but his health condition deteriorated, and he died at dawn on Tuesday before his permit was issued.

PCHR, in its capacity as the legal representative, intervened and sent an urgent request to the Israeli legal advisor at Bein Hanoun “Erez” crossing to allow the patient to travel on September 5, 2022, but received a response that the permit was denied.

PCHR then submitted a challenge to the Israeli Prosecution on September 15, to all the patient to travel due to his serious condition, but the patient died before receiving a response to the challenge.

According to PCHR’s follow-up, since the beginning of so far this year, the Israeli authorities have obstructed the travel of 5,001 patients with serious diseases that lack treatment at the Strip’s hospitals.[1]

These restrictions coincide with the deterioration of the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli-imposed closure on the Gaza Strip for the last 16 years, causing a perpetual shortage of essential drugs and medical devices and insufficient number of specialized health personnel.

PCHR condemned the obstruction of Gaza Strip Patients’ travel for treatment abroad, and calls on the international community, including the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention to exert pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to assume their legal responsibilities towards the Gaza Strip population, including patients, and to ensure that adequate and safe mechanism is provided for their travel.

It called on the international community to pressure Israel to lift the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip in line with Security Council Resolution No. 1860 that calls for the unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, including of food, fuel, and medical treatment which means allowing the entry of medical supplies used in radiotherapy, chemical drugs and periodic examinations for cancer patients that are not available in Gaza hospitals.

Since the beginning of this year, the number of patients denied travel for treatment abroad has risen to 6, including 3 children.

Dr. Taiseer was from Gaza. Source: The Palestinian Center For Human Rights (PCHR)

[1] Date obtained by PCHR’s fieldworkers from the Coordination and Liaison Department at the Ministry of Health

Farouq Mohammad Abu Naja

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August 28, 2022: Farouq Mohammad Abu Naja, 6, died after Israeli denied his travel for medical treatment at the Hadassah Ein Karem Israeli Medical Center in Jerusalem, in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemned the Israeli continuous obstacles to the travel of Gaza Strip’s patients, denying them access to the Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and Israeli hospitals for receiving or resuming their medical treatment.

The PCHR added that these obstacles have aggravated the suffering of thousands of patients and resulted in the death of 4 patients; the last one was Farouq whose travel permit for treatment at Hadassah hospital in the occupied Jerusalem, was denied.

Suleiman Ahmad Abu Naja, 56, the deceased child’s grandfather, from Yabna refugee camp in Rafah, said that his grandson was denied travel for treatment at Hadassah- ‘Ein Karem Hospital as he suffers from cerebral atrophy.

Abu Naja added that his grandson received a medical referral for treatment on 12 January 2022 at Hadassah ‘Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem; the referral is funded by the Christian Aid Ministries.

He applied to have a travel permit from the Israeli occupation authorities; however, the latter replied that his request is still under study.  Thus, the child could not travel for treatment on the given appointment.

Abu Naja said that they obtained another appointment on 10 August 2022 and then re-applied for the travel permit, but the Israeli authorities kept replying that the request is “under study”. While waiting for the Israeli approval, the child’s health deteriorated until he died at the European Gaza Hospital on Wednesday evening, 24 August 2022.

According to the Health Department of the General Authority for Civil Affairs (GACA) statistics, since the beginning of this year, the Israeli authorities have obstructed the travel of 4,169 patients from the Gaza strip for treatment abroad since.  Most of these patients suffer serious diseases that lack treatment at the Strip’s hospitals.

The Israeli occupation army invokes various reasons and excuses to prevent Gaza patients from traveling for treatment; including requests under study, summoning patients for a security interview, requests denied for having a relative illegally residing in the West Bank or Israel, and the treatment available in Gaza hospitals.

These restrictions come with the deterioration of the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip triggered by the Israeli-imposed closure for 16 years, as the Gaza Strip hospitals suffer from acute shortage of essential drugs and medical devices and insufficient number of specialized health professionals; rendering the hospitals unable to treat many serious diseases and so raising the number of patients referred for treatment abroad during the past years.

In light of the above, PCHR calls on the international community, including the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, and the UN bodies and international organizations to exert pressure on the occupation to assume their legal responsibilities towards the residents of the Gaza Strip, including patients, and to ensure an appropriate and safe mechanism is provided for their travel.

PCHR calls on the international community to pressure Israel to lift the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip in line with Security Council Resolution No. 1860, and to import the medical supplies used in radiotherapy, chemical drugs and periodic examinations for cancer patients that are not available in Gaza hospitals.

Farouq was from Yabna refugee camp in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Source: The Palestinian Center For Human Rights (PCHR):

Fatma Jalal al-Masri

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March 25, 2022: Fatma Jalal al-Masri, 19 months, died at the Gaza European Hospital after she was denied access to a hospital outside Gaza by Israeli authorities at the Erez crossing.

The Al-Mezan Center For Uman Rights said Fatma was subjected to Israel’s arbitrary and discriminatory permit system, which delays access to hospitals outside the Strip and denies care in around 30 percent of urgent cases. The continued movement restrictions by Israeli authorities on Palestinian patients in the Gaza Strip systematically violate inhabitants’ right to health by aggravating health conditions and placing numerous barriers to health access.

According to Al Mezan, Fatma’s legal representative, she was diagnosed with a ventricular septal defect in 2021. Despite having obtained a medical referral from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and confirming three hospital appointments at Al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem, Israeli authorities denied Fatma the requisite exit permit to travel to Jerusalem for the appointments, the last of which was on 5 March 2022.

The young patient’s health deteriorated over the course of several months of denied care and she died three weeks after her last missed appointment.

Al Mezan deeply regrets Fatma’s death and strongly condemns Israel’s ongoing closure of the Gaza Strip and its associated restrictions on the movement of Palestinians, which includes denying patients access to the hospitals in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Israel, and abroad.

Al Mezan’s documentation shows that since 2011, 71 Palestinians—including twenty-five women and nine children—have died following Israel’s denial of requests for exit permits and delays. Notably, Israel’s targeted, discriminatory permit system is one of the practices and policies at the core of its apartheid regime against the Palestinian people as a whole.

This case is yet another example of Israel’s continuing violation of international humanitarian and human rights law and its obligations as an occupying power, notably to respect and ensure freedom of movement in occupied territory and to guarantee the right to health of the occupied population.

These obligations bear greater weight when involving children and as provided in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Israel has an obligation to ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child. Delaying access to necessary medical care for a toddler for more than five months is unwarranted and grave.

Al Mezan emphasizes that Israel is fully responsible for Fatma’s death as the occupying power and relevant duty bearer in these circumstances. The State’s persistent breaches of its international law obligations require the intervention of the international community and accountability of perpetrators.

Al Mezan called on the international community—in particular, the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions—to uphold their moral and legal obligations vis-à-vis the protected Palestinian people and to ensure Israel complies with its obligations under international law, ends the closure and blockade on the Gaza Strip, and stops its ongoing restrictions of Palestinian patients’ access to medical care outside the Gaza Strip.

Fatima was from Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Source: Al-Mezan Center For Human Rights