Since the last aggression against Gaza started the Israeli occupation authority has been preventing cancer patients from leaving the coastal territory in order to receive life-saving medical treatment in hospitals in Jerusalem.
Cancer patients seek chemotherapy in Jerusalem hospitals because it is not available in Gaza.
According to Haaretz newspaper from the first day of Israel’s recent war on Gaza and until last Tuesday May 25 the Erez (Beit Hanoun) border crossing was completely closed but after it was reopened the Israeli authorities claimed they would allow the entry of people needing life-saving treatment.
However according to reports obtained by Physicians for Human Rights in Israel and the Palestinian human rights group al-Mezan since the crossing was reopened Israel has only allowed in people who needed to reach intensive care units by ambulance other than a few isolated cases in which it agreed to let people through after the Palestinian Authority and other rights organizations intervened.
One of those cancer patients denied entry was a woman from Gaza City whose real name was withheld at her request but Haaretz preferred to use “Suaad” as her name in its report.
Suaad is seriously ill and has a long-term permit allowing her multiple entries so that she can be treated at the Augusta Victoria hospital in east Jerusalem. Suaad came to the Erez crossing last Tuesday on her way to receiving treatment but she was denied entry. On Sunday she tried again but was refused entry yet again Haaretz explained.
“My wife is gravely ill with cancer and her situation is deteriorating” her husband told Haaretz. “The first time we came we waited three hours after which we were told we could not proceed. On Sunday they refused us entry again. My wife has a biological and chemotherapeutic treatment protocol for her cancer and every delay aggravates her situation” he said.
Suaad started her treatment in December 2020 and has been crossing into the Israeli occupied West Bank frequently since then.
Human rights organizations including Physicians for Human Rights Gisha Adalah and the HaMoked Center for Defense of the Individual last Wednesday wrote a letter in this regard to the coordinator of the Israeli government activities in the occupied territories and Israeli war minister Benny Gantz calling the decision to deny entry to these patients “extremely unreasonable” in the absence of an examination of individual cases and the provision of detailed explanations when entry is denied.
The rights groups have received no reply from the Israeli officials so far.
