Palestinian babies die because the PA does not give them permission to leave Gaza for medical treatment
Headline: “Three babies from Gaza died because they were unable to receive treatment abroad”
“Ibrahim Samir Tbeil, a nine-month old baby who lay in intensive care at the Al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza, died because he was unable to leave the Gaza Strip in order to receive treatment. In this way, the number of babies who died in Gaza rose to three within 24 hours.
[Hamas -run Gazan] Ministry of Health Spokesman Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra emphasized that the children and patients are struggling with pain and are in a race against time. He added that if they will be unable to leave for treatment, we will lose them.
He also noted that over 3,000 patients in Gaza urgently need treatment abroad… In a press statement, Ashraf Al-Qudra called to save the many children who were born recently suffering from birth defects, and immediately need a referral for urgent surgical intervention abroad.
He noted that there are additional children for whom a referral request was submitted, but the [Palestinian] Authority in Ramallah has yet to respond to them, and he added that the number of patients from the Gaza Strip who have died as a result of stopping the granting of referrals for treatment has risen to 12 in total, six of them children… Parties that deal with human rights are holding the Israeli occupation and the PA fully responsible for the lives of the patients, and condemn the foot-dragging in acceding to the exit [requests] to receive treatment.”
According to residents of Gaza and human rights organizations cited in a report by Haaretz on June 26, 2017, the PA has been preventing patients in the Gaza Strip from receiving treatment outside Gaza by holding up the necessary documents since April 2017, when the number of patients receiving the documents dropped dramatically. This new policy is said to be part of the power struggle between the PA and Hamas that in early June 2017 saw the PA request that Israel limit the supply of electricity to Gaza as it reduced the money it pays for Gazan electricity.
“Ibrahim Samir Tbeil, a nine-month old baby who lay in intensive care at the Al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza, died because he was unable to leave the Gaza Strip in order to receive treatment. In this way, the number of babies who died in Gaza rose to three within 24 hours.
[Hamas -run Gazan] Ministry of Health Spokesman Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra emphasized that the children and patients are struggling with pain and are in a race against time. He added that if they will be unable to leave for treatment, we will lose them.
He also noted that over 3,000 patients in Gaza urgently need treatment abroad… In a press statement, Ashraf Al-Qudra called to save the many children who were born recently suffering from birth defects, and immediately need a referral for urgent surgical intervention abroad.
He noted that there are additional children for whom a referral request was submitted, but the [Palestinian] Authority in Ramallah has yet to respond to them, and he added that the number of patients from the Gaza Strip who have died as a result of stopping the granting of referrals for treatment has risen to 12 in total, six of them children… Parties that deal with human rights are holding the Israeli occupation and the PA fully responsible for the lives of the patients, and condemn the foot-dragging in acceding to the exit [requests] to receive treatment.”
According to residents of Gaza and human rights organizations cited in a report by Haaretz on June 26, 2017, the PA has been preventing patients in the Gaza Strip from receiving treatment outside Gaza by holding up the necessary documents since April 2017, when the number of patients receiving the documents dropped dramatically. This new policy is said to be part of the power struggle between the PA and Hamas that in early June 2017 saw the PA request that Israel limit the supply of electricity to Gaza as it reduced the money it pays for Gazan electricity.