from right to left: Aziza Qanous, Siham al-Tatri, Faiza Shamia, (Photos courtesy of the families)

Ghada Majadli, PHRI Freedom of Movement Coordinator

When we examine the types of diseases for which patients are referred to treatment in medical centers outside the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the various types of cancer are overrepresented, due to the shortage of doctors specializing in chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In addition, the Palestinian healthcare system in Gaza suffers from a shortage of medication (some twenty drug families are unavailable) and medical instruments. This may be due to budgetary problems or security restrictions imposed by Israel, which prevents the supply of these and other products under the pretext of “secondary use”.
Among cancer patients in Gaza, we have noticed an increase in the number of women diagnosed with cancer, and their growing difficulty in obtaining proper treatment. Most of them are referred to hospitals in East Jerusalem and Israel – which obviously requires a permit to cross into Israel, a bureaucratic nightmare that delays their treatment. Since they require a series of treatments rather than a single appointment, each time they leave requires a referral that needs to be approved by the Israeli authorities. The result is a significant threat to their chances of survival.
During May and June, Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) was contacted by ten female cancer patients, two of whom we were unable to assist as we did not receive the appropriate documents. Out of the eight cases in which we did intervene, three received an entrance permit, after having waited for a reply for an extended period. The cases of four other women are still “under review”, and one was denied entrance due to “security reasons”. This means that out of eight women, seven did not arrive at their appointment not because they were denied entrance, but because there was a delay in reviewing their application on the Israeli side. During that waiting period, these cancer patients had to make do with drugs that prevent complications, and vitamins.
When it comes to lifesaving treatment in which any delay is critical to these patients’ chances of survival, it appears that this indifference and the denial of the necessary resources are not a local failure, but rather a policy. The World Health Organization also reports that many of the patients do not arrive at their appointments simply because the reply to their permit applications is not given on time (50.7% in May 2017).
We call upon Israel to allow these women suffering from diseases whose treatment is unavailable in Gaza, unconditional and immediate access to the health services to which they have been referred. Due to the policy of the occupation, exacerbated over the past decade by the prolonged closure of Gaza that affects all health determinants and the quality of healthcare services, Israel cannot shirk its responsibility for the health of Gaza’s inhabitants. At the very least, it must allow them access to health services outside Gaza.