GAZA, Wednesday, March 22, 2023 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Tuesday evening detained a Palestinian patient at the Beit Hanoun crossing in the northern besieged Gaza Strip, according to WAFA correspondent. He said that despite obtaining a permit from Israel’s Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) to exit Gaza to receive treatment at the Augusta Victoria Hospital in the occupied city of Jerusalem, the patient was arrested at the crossing while making his way back to Gaza. The finding of the November 2022 World Health Organization monthly report, titled Health Access Barriers for patients in the occupied Palestinian territory, show that only 80% of Gaza patient permit applications approved, 46% of Gaza companion permit applications approved and 54 Gaza patients called for interrogation by the Israeli occupation authorities. The report findings also show that the permit applications submitted by 22 patients, 15 males and seven females, comprising 1% of the total for Gaza, were denied in November. These included four children under 18 years, eight adults aged 18 to 40 years, eight adults aged 41 to 60 years and two adults over 60 years of age. They were referred for oncology (4); cardiology (3); general surgery, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, internal medicine, and urology (2 each); and paediatrics, ENT, endocrinology, heart surgery, and nuclear medicine (1 each). The findings also reveal that the permit applications of 369 patients, 219 males and 150 females, accounting for 19% of the total, were delayed access to care, receiving no definitive response to their application by the date of their hospital appointment. Of delayed applications, 27% (100 applications) were for children under the age of 18, while 15% (56) were for patients over 60 years old. A half (49%) were for appointments in East Jerusalem hospitals, while 32% were for the West Bank and 19% for Israeli hospitals. Most delayed applications (285 or 77%) were classified as ‘under study’ at the time of hospital appointment. Eight (2%) were awaiting appointments for security interrogation, while six (2%) were requested to change companions and two were requested to submit new applications. Five applications were delayed based on the assertion by Israeli COGAT that suitable care is available within Gaza, though no evidence was provided to support this claim. Some Eighteen years following the Israeli ‘disengagement’ from Gaza, Israel has not actually disengaged from Gaza; it still maintains control of its land borders, access to the sea and airspace. Two million Palestinians live the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a punishing and crippling Israeli blockade for 12 years and repeated onslaughts that have heavily damaged much of the enclave’s infrastructure. Gaza’s 2-million population remains under ‘remote control’ occupation and a strict siege, which has destroyed the local economy, strangled Palestinian livelihoods, plunged them into unprecedented rates of unemployment and poverty, and cut off from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories and the wider world. Gaza remains occupied territory, having no control over its borders, territorial waters or airspace. Meanwhile, Israel upholds very few of its responsibilities as the occupying power, failing to provide for the basic needs of Palestinian civilians living in the territory.
Source: Palestine News & Information Agency