When You Take Away My Life…

Cancer remains among the top leading causes of death in Palestine, and while its cancer incidence rates are comparable to those of other Arab nations in the region, and by the way, significantly lower than in Israel, Palestine has a higher mortality rate compared to most neighboring countries.

Why? Because treatment is so difficult to get.

Israel's isolation of the Gaza Strip has also meant the isolation of its healthcare system, and this has been going on for decades.

Israel limits or blocks the entry of critical equipment and restricts the exit and entry of medical professionals and specialists.

As a result, many types of medical treatment, including cancer treatment and certain ophthalmology, cardiology, radiology, and other advanced imaging, are unavailable in Gaza, requiring Palestinians from Gaza to exit the Gaza Strip in order to seek treatment elsewhere.

For example, did you know that Israel bars radiotherapy equipment from entering hospitals in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which means that patients have to apply for permits to go to Jerusalem to get treatment at the Augusta Victoria Hospital.

Even then, advanced procedures and bone marrow transplants must seek referrals to neighboring countries at their own expense or at the expense of the Palestinian Authority.

According to one study in 2021, 48% of referrals were to hospitals in the West Bank, followed by 38% to hospitals in East Jerusalem.

Referrals to Israeli hospitals accounted for only 5%, as did those who, who chose to go to non-governmental hospitals within the Gaza Strip.

The remaining 4% were hospitals in other countries, namely Jordan, Egypt, and Turkey.

So when you hear the Israelis claim that they're treating Palestinians, it's actually a lie.

Gaza hospitals face particular challenges in treating cancer patients because Israel refuses to allow insufficient supplies of medicines and essential equipment.

As a result, certain specialized surgeries are simply unavailable.

In 2018, many key chemotherapy drugs remained at less than one month's supply.

But getting in and out of Gaza is not a simple matter.

As part of its policy to separate the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Israel only allows a very limited number of Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip, limited to cases that Israel has defined as humanitarian and exceptional.

But even that is no guarantee of a permit.

Requests can only be submitted for the purpose of life-saving treatment or treatment without which the quality of life would be drastically affected, these are their words, and only on the condition that the treatment is not available in Gaza and that there is no specific security prohibition on the individual.

Now, submitting a request for a medical permit is like navigating a maze, requiring a series of permits, approvals, financial guarantees that can take months.

The process on the Palestinian side begins with a referral from a doctor, after which the referral must be approved by the Palestinian authorities in Gaza and in Ramallah with guarantees for payment of medical procedures.

After receiving these approvals, an appointment is set at the receiving hospital, and then and only then can a permit request be submitted to the Israeli authorities.

Phew.

On the Israeli side, the request is then transferred from the Palestinian Civil Affairs Committee to the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, which is the administrative arm of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, which then forwards it for review by additional Israeli entities, including the Israeli Security Agency, often referred to by its Hebrew name, the Shin Bet or Shabak.

You can see just how complicated it is, and each time an appointment is needed, the person has to go through the same process.

In practice, many requests are refused without reason or even go unanswered entirely.