Bait- Hanon crossing is the only port for the movement of people between the Gaza Strip and occupied Palestine. Citizens of Gaza strip are not allowed to cross it without an exit permit from the Israelis.
Since the beginning of 2019 Gaza Strip did not receive their shares of medications from the West Bank, what forced Palestinian cancer patients especially children to seek treatment outside through Israeli issued exit permits to enter the west bank. Parents are not allowed to accompany their children, most of these permits are granted to the children alone, which deprive the kids from the their parents leaving all of them in bad physical and psychological conditions.
Talking to Ahmed’s mother , in his last stage of therapy, about the hardship that they faced in his long and harsh therapy trip, she said, it took us so long to issue my first exit permit , which made us send an old lady who needs medical care in her tern with the sick child to keep him company .
“If we had the medications here in Gaza we would have not gone through all those pointless procedures. I hope no one ever live the tough days we have lived in the last few years”, she added.
In the same context , Director-General of Pharmacy in the Palestinian Ministry of Health Dr. Munir al-Bursh drew attention to the suspension of the treatments protocols for cancer patients after the depletion of 62% of their specialized drugs counting 35 categories. The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr. Ashraf Al-Qedra, said that the Israeli occupation denied approximately 45% of referred patients from receiving treatment abroad, which leave them between the two deadly options (No locally available treatment and No travelling outside for treatment).
So they are denied from their right to treatment, which is guaranteed by all international human rights and humanitarian legislations.