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Israel and the PA Block Exit of Gazans Needing Medical Care

Written by Subject: Israel - Palestine

Israel and the PA Block Exit of Gazans Needing Medical Treatment

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Netanyahu and longtime Israeli collaborator Abbas refuse to let most Palestinians leave for vital medical treatment unavailable in the Strip.

Gazans need exit permits. Patients report "unexplained delays" in granting them, in most cases denied.

According to Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), data it obtained show over 90% of Palestinians requesting permission to leave for health reasons over the past few months never got a response - including individuals with terminal illnesses.

PA officials lied saying they haven't tried delaying issuing travel authorization. Families in need explain otherwise.

A Jabaliya refugee camp parent whose daughter has vascular disease was prevented from getting treatment at Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital, scheduled for days earlier in June.

The PA refused to issue a payment voucher for her essential-to-life treatment, the parent saying:

"My daughter's condition is deteriorating to a life-threatening state. I go every day to the Health Ministry in Gaza in an effort to get the referral. I've tried pulling strings in Ramallah and I don't know what else to do to get my daughter to her treatment in Israel."

Numerous other ill Gazans face the same dilemma, jointly punished by Netanyahu and Abbas - the former representing institutionalized Israeli racism, the latter for special benefits he derives by betraying his people.

Gazans face protracted humanitarian crisis conditions under Israel's imposed blockade, including severe shortages of medicines, medical equipment and other essentials to life.

According to an unnamed senior PA official, they're being collectively punished by Abbas in cahoots with Netanyahu to try forcing Hamas to relinquish control of the Strip.

A PHR-I delegation to Gaza found a shortage of the Fentanyl anesthetic drug threatens to shut down the operating rooms in all public hospitals. The PA refuses to supply it from Ramallah.

According to Gaza Health Ministry director Munir al-Bursch, the PA hasn't sent medicines for the past three months, adding 17 cancer medications completely ran out in May. Education is also affected.

"We realize this sounds cruel, but in the end, after 10 years of the split and Hamas rule in the Strip, (it) must decide whether it will control things in every sense, including ongoing expenses, or let the Palestinian government rule," a senior Abbas advisor said.

Gaza's Health Ministry experienced a near-50% cut in its monthly budget in April. In May, it was down to $500,000 from $4 million in March and earlier.

Lack of adequate funding threatens the health and well-being of two million Gazans, suffocating under joint Israeli/PA repression, including major cuts in electricity and fuel.

In early June, PHR-I executive director Ran Goldstein said "(t)he humanitarian crisis in Gaza must be a wake-up call for everyone able to solve the problem."

"Gaza's children have become hostages in the political game played by the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, and Israel. The change must be dramatic and immediate - providing funds, medicines, and electric power, opening Gaza to the outside world and offering urgent humanitarian assistance."

Despite years of slow-motion genocide in Gaza, punctuated by wars and cross-border incursions by the IDF at its discretion, the world community is largely silent in the face of Israeli/PA high crimes against its people.

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