Gaza- Walaa Masoud fears that it will be too late before she can travel for treatment abroad for a serious injury she suffered in an Israeli air strike, threatening her ability to walk again.
Walaa escaped from under the rubble, as a result of violent air strikes that destroyed an entire residential square in the Jabalia refugee camp, north of the Gaza Strip, and caused her a serious injury to the bones in her foot, and she needs treatment outside the Strip, so that she will not suffer from a mobility disability for the rest of her life.
Appropriate treatment is not available in Gaza’s hospitals, which are facing total collapse as a result of direct Israeli military targeting, the implemented blockade, and the prevention of the supply of medical devices, medicines, and consumables.
Futile mechanism
The Ministry of Health in Gaza says that the mechanism used to leave the wounded for treatment abroad through the Rafah land crossing with Egypt is futile and useless and contributes to the killing of hundreds of wounded. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory agrees with this, which classified Israel as deliberately obstructing the travel of thousands of sick and wounded people. With a “prior death sentence.”
Walaa is impatiently awaiting her travel to receive the appropriate treatment, which will save her from an injury that shattered her foot. She says, “Isn’t it enough that I lose my son and my family, and also live the rest of my life with a disability?”
Wounded and sick people lost their lives during their long wait for approval to travel for treatment abroad. The head of the Health Emergency Committee in the city of Rafah, Dr. Marwan Al-Hams, reports that they send the Egyptian side a daily list of 300 names of sick and wounded people in urgent need of treatment, but only 20 to 50 names are approved.
The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Observatory quoted Al-Hams as saying that these approvals come 24 to 72 hours late, which leads to the death of some of those who obtain the necessary security approvals.
Since the outbreak of the Israeli war on October 7, the occupation has closed the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing, designated for individuals and humanitarian cases, to the movement of travelers, including the sick and wounded, in addition to closing the only commercial crossing at Kerem Shalom, and preventing the supply of all humanitarian needs. Including medical.
During the first two weeks of the unprecedented aggression of death and destruction, the Rafah crossing – the only land outlet for Gazans with the outside world through Egyptian territory – remained closed, before it was reopened last October 20, partially, for the travel of the sick and wounded and the entry of humanitarian supplies.
The head of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory, Rami Abdo, explained to Manhattan Tribune Net that the movement of leaving the sick and wounded is very slow and subject to arbitrary Israeli restrictions, given the need for security approval from the occupation army for every name of a person trying to travel for treatment.
“war crime”
As of late last week, the Ministry of Health documented that 491 wounded and 214 patients were able to pass through the Rafah crossing into Egypt for treatment, which constitutes less than 1% of the total war-wounded, and their number is estimated at more than 50,000.
Abdo confirmed that about 8,000 of the total wounded need urgent medical intervention, and that restricting their travel means a prior Israeli ruling to execute them.
The restriction on the travel of the wounded and sick comes at a time when the health system in Gaza is facing a state of complete collapse, with only 13 hospitals out of 36 currently operating partially, in light of many obstacles and limited medical capabilities, according to Abdo.
According to the Ministry of Health, bed capacity has decreased from 3,600 to less than 1,400 beds, and occupancy rates currently reach 206% in inpatient departments and 250% in intensive care units.
The head of the Health Emergency Committee in Rafah, Marwan Al-Hams, told Manhattan Tribune Net that the occupation is using restrictions on the movement of the wounded and sick, as well as medical supplies, as a weapon to kill again, after killing with shells and missiles.
Abdo agrees with Al-Hams that escalating travel restrictions for the sick and wounded and obstructing the flow of medical supplies at a time when the Strip is being subjected to deadly attacks, “is a form of collective punishment and represents a flagrant violation of international law, and amounts to a war crime.”
He added, “The restrictions imposed on the travel of the sick and wounded are directly linked to the increase in the number of victims of the aggression, and may constitute an additional factor in deepening the crime of genocide to which Palestinian civilians are exposed in the Gaza Strip.”
Intentional violations
The latest statistics of the Ministry of Health indicate that there have been 18,800 martyrs and more than 51,000 wounded, and among the martyrs are 300 health personnel.
The occupation army targeted 138 health institutions, put 22 hospitals and 52 health centers out of service, destroyed 102 ambulances, in addition to arresting 38 medical personnel.
The Ministry of Health confirms that the occupation is deliberately liquidating the health presence in the northern Gaza Strip to force residents to displace, and that the health situation in hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip is the worst as a result of their loss of absorptive and treatment capabilities.
She adds that medical teams differentiate between serious cases to save lives and what can be saved from among the large numbers arriving at hospitals in the south.
The occupation deliberately keeps the health system in a state of continuous collapse, and controls the volume and quality of medical aid.
To stop this collapse, Al-Hams says, it is urgently required to provide a safe humanitarian corridor that guarantees the flow of medical supplies and fuel and their arrival to all hospitals in the sector in the north and south, and to follow a rapid mechanism for the wounded and sick to travel for treatment abroad.
