24 oct 2017
The European Union (EU) has provided 13 million euros to help Palestinian hospitals in east Jerusalem maintain vital medical services for patients.
In a press release, the EU said its financial support for east Jerusalem hospitals aimed to keep them open and ensure they would continue providing essential care to thousands of patients from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
These supported hospitals are among the few remaining functional Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem and they are facing serious cash flow problems that jeopardize their operations.
The EU was among the donors who have responded since 2012 with regular contributions that have reached over 90 million euros.
The EU response reflects the great importance placed on the services provided by the east Jerusalem hospitals for all Palestinians, including from Gaza and the West Bank. The hospitals are an integral part of the Palestinian healthcare system that provides special services that cannot be found elsewhere.
In a press release, the EU said its financial support for east Jerusalem hospitals aimed to keep them open and ensure they would continue providing essential care to thousands of patients from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
These supported hospitals are among the few remaining functional Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem and they are facing serious cash flow problems that jeopardize their operations.
The EU was among the donors who have responded since 2012 with regular contributions that have reached over 90 million euros.
The EU response reflects the great importance placed on the services provided by the east Jerusalem hospitals for all Palestinians, including from Gaza and the West Bank. The hospitals are an integral part of the Palestinian healthcare system that provides special services that cannot be found elsewhere.
19 oct 2017
The Palestinian Health Ministry condemned Thursday morning the attack carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Qalqilia hospital earlier today.
The attack occurred when IOF soldiers stormed at the early morning hours Qalqilia hospital amid heavy firing of teargas bombs, injuring many patients including children.
The IOF raid on Qalqilia hospital came as part of a series of systematic assaults on the Palestinian health sector in flagrant violation of international laws and norms, the ministry said in a statement.
The statement also called for urgent international intervention to stop Israeli violations.
The attack occurred when IOF soldiers stormed at the early morning hours Qalqilia hospital amid heavy firing of teargas bombs, injuring many patients including children.
The IOF raid on Qalqilia hospital came as part of a series of systematic assaults on the Palestinian health sector in flagrant violation of international laws and norms, the ministry said in a statement.
The statement also called for urgent international intervention to stop Israeli violations.
The Palestinian Health Minister, Dr. Jawad Awwad, issued a statement denouncing the Thursday morning Israeli military invasion, and the firing of gas bombs, in the yards of Darwish Nazzal hospital, in Qalqilia, in northern West Bank.
The statement came after the soldiers invaded the yards of the hospital, and fired many gas bombs, especially near the Children’s Ward, causing many Palestinians to suffer the severe effects of teargas inhalation.
Dr. Awwad stated that the ongoing Israeli invasions and attacks targeting hospitals and medical centers in occupied Palestinian, are grave violation of all International Laws, and human rights treaties.
He also said that such violations are organized crimes, and pose serious threats to the lives of the patients, and the Palestinians in general, and called on various international legal and human rights groups in intervene and help in ending the Israeli escalation and crimes.
The statement came after the soldiers invaded the yards of the hospital, and fired many gas bombs, especially near the Children’s Ward, causing many Palestinians to suffer the severe effects of teargas inhalation.
Dr. Awwad stated that the ongoing Israeli invasions and attacks targeting hospitals and medical centers in occupied Palestinian, are grave violation of all International Laws, and human rights treaties.
He also said that such violations are organized crimes, and pose serious threats to the lives of the patients, and the Palestinians in general, and called on various international legal and human rights groups in intervene and help in ending the Israeli escalation and crimes.
1 oct 2017
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested some 14,000 Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories over the last two years, according to a rights group.
Palestine Center for Prisoners’ Studies said that 14,000 Palestinians were detained since the start of Jerusalem Intifada on Oct.1, 2015 including 3100 minors, 437 women, and 450 online activists.
Almost all the detainees were subjected to psychological or physical torture in Israeli detention and investigation centers in total violation to international laws and conventions, the center added.
The rise in Israeli arrests has been intensified after the Jerusalem Intifada, according to the source.
2860 administrative detention orders was issued over the reported period, 17 of which were issued against female detainees while 42 others targeted minor detainees.
65 young girls were among the female detainees, six of them suffered live shot injuries during their arrest.
16 Palestinian MPs were also detained over the reported period, ten of them are still being held in Israeli jails.
The figures also documented the arrest of 150 elderly people, 39 academics, 240 patients and disabled people, and 115 journalists.
Over the past two years, six prisoners died, rising the number of Palestinian detainees who lost their lives behind Israeli bars to 212.
Palestine Center for Prisoners’ Studies said that 14,000 Palestinians were detained since the start of Jerusalem Intifada on Oct.1, 2015 including 3100 minors, 437 women, and 450 online activists.
Almost all the detainees were subjected to psychological or physical torture in Israeli detention and investigation centers in total violation to international laws and conventions, the center added.
The rise in Israeli arrests has been intensified after the Jerusalem Intifada, according to the source.
2860 administrative detention orders was issued over the reported period, 17 of which were issued against female detainees while 42 others targeted minor detainees.
65 young girls were among the female detainees, six of them suffered live shot injuries during their arrest.
16 Palestinian MPs were also detained over the reported period, ten of them are still being held in Israeli jails.
The figures also documented the arrest of 150 elderly people, 39 academics, 240 patients and disabled people, and 115 journalists.
Over the past two years, six prisoners died, rising the number of Palestinian detainees who lost their lives behind Israeli bars to 212.
28 sept 2017
The Israeli occupation authorities late on Wednesday evening released the Palestinian doctor Sabreen Abu Sharar from jail.
Abu Sharar had been locked up for a couple of months in Israeli penitentiaries, where she had been made to endure exhaustive interrogation and court hearings.
Abu Sharar was kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces on July 26, 2017, on her way out of the occupied Palestinian territories to meet her fiancé and tie the knot.
Her abduction came just eight months after she was released from Israeli jails, where she had served an 18-month sentence.
Dr. Abu Sharar, from al-Khalil’s town of Dura, in the southern occupied West Bank, studied medicine in Egypt.
Abu Sharar had been locked up for a couple of months in Israeli penitentiaries, where she had been made to endure exhaustive interrogation and court hearings.
Abu Sharar was kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces on July 26, 2017, on her way out of the occupied Palestinian territories to meet her fiancé and tie the knot.
Her abduction came just eight months after she was released from Israeli jails, where she had served an 18-month sentence.
Dr. Abu Sharar, from al-Khalil’s town of Dura, in the southern occupied West Bank, studied medicine in Egypt.
13 sept 2017
The blockaded Gaza Strip has run out of 90% of medicines for cancer-stricken patients and those with blood diseases, the Palestinian Health Ministry warned Wednesday.
The Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra appealed to the concerned institutions to take urgent action as regards the acute shortage in much-needed medicines.
He attributed the crisis to the suspension of medicine import by the Ramallah-based authorities.
The Palestinian official further pushed for granting sick Gazans medical referrals to receive treatment outside of Gaza’s resource-deprived hospitals.
On Tuesday the head of the kidney department at al-Shifaa Medical Complex, Dr. Abdullah al-Qishawi, warned of the acute dearth in Tacrolimus—an immunosuppressive drug used mainly after allogeneic organ transplant to lower the risk of organ rejection.
The Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra appealed to the concerned institutions to take urgent action as regards the acute shortage in much-needed medicines.
He attributed the crisis to the suspension of medicine import by the Ramallah-based authorities.
The Palestinian official further pushed for granting sick Gazans medical referrals to receive treatment outside of Gaza’s resource-deprived hospitals.
On Tuesday the head of the kidney department at al-Shifaa Medical Complex, Dr. Abdullah al-Qishawi, warned of the acute dearth in Tacrolimus—an immunosuppressive drug used mainly after allogeneic organ transplant to lower the risk of organ rejection.
12 sept 2017
The Israeli occupation authorities turned Beit Hanun (Erez) crossing with Gaza into an ambush to crack down on Palestinian civilians, researcher Abdul Nasser Farwana said.
Farwana spoke up against the blackmailing and crackdowns which sick civilians, humanitarian cases, and merchants have been made to endure on way out of Beit Hanun crossing.
He added that at least 60 Palestinian civilians, including patients, students, women, and businessmen, and relief activists, have been detained as they attempted to cross the passageway.
On Sunday evening, 27-year-old Gazan youth Fadhl Abu Hasira was detained by the IOA on his way to al-Maqased Hospital in Occupied Jerusalem through Beit Hanun crossing so as to be treated for painful inflammations infecting his right leg.
Farwana spoke up against the blackmailing and crackdowns which sick civilians, humanitarian cases, and merchants have been made to endure on way out of Beit Hanun crossing.
He added that at least 60 Palestinian civilians, including patients, students, women, and businessmen, and relief activists, have been detained as they attempted to cross the passageway.
On Sunday evening, 27-year-old Gazan youth Fadhl Abu Hasira was detained by the IOA on his way to al-Maqased Hospital in Occupied Jerusalem through Beit Hanun crossing so as to be treated for painful inflammations infecting his right leg.
10 sept 2017
Palestinian Health Ministry Spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qidra, said Gaza’s hospitals have run out of 40% of life-saving medicines.
Al-Qidra warned of the acute dearth in much-needed medicines, saying the situation has taken a turn for the worse in the blockaded coastal enclave due to the delay in medical referrals by the Palestinian Authority (PA), chaired by Mahmoud Abbas.
He added that 30 patients were pronounced dead in the besieged territory as a result of the denial, by the PA and the Israeli occupation authorities, of urgent medical referrals for Gaza’s sick civilians and children.
Al-Qidra warned of the acute dearth in much-needed medicines, saying the situation has taken a turn for the worse in the blockaded coastal enclave due to the delay in medical referrals by the Palestinian Authority (PA), chaired by Mahmoud Abbas.
He added that 30 patients were pronounced dead in the besieged territory as a result of the denial, by the PA and the Israeli occupation authorities, of urgent medical referrals for Gaza’s sick civilians and children.
2 sept 2017
Fanatic Jewish settlers at dawn Saturday attacked a Palestinian ambulance car of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in al-Shuhada Street at the Old City of al-Khalil.
The PIC reporter said that a group of extremist settlers of Beit Romano and Beit Hadassah settlement outposts attacked the ambulance car that was summoned to convey a Palestinian sick child, suffering a serious health condition, to hospital.
The settlers stopped the ambulance and assaulted the driver from the window and hit the car with iron pipes and guns, eyewitnesses said.
The PIC reporter added that the attacking process lasted for 35 minutes. Meanwhile, the sick child had to wait until the ambulance was allowed to pass and access his home after the intervention of the Red Crescent Society.
The PIC reporter said that a group of extremist settlers of Beit Romano and Beit Hadassah settlement outposts attacked the ambulance car that was summoned to convey a Palestinian sick child, suffering a serious health condition, to hospital.
The settlers stopped the ambulance and assaulted the driver from the window and hit the car with iron pipes and guns, eyewitnesses said.
The PIC reporter added that the attacking process lasted for 35 minutes. Meanwhile, the sick child had to wait until the ambulance was allowed to pass and access his home after the intervention of the Red Crescent Society.
30 aug 2017
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Gaza’s chronic electricity outages – the power is out up to 21 hours per day – put the lives of hospital patients at risk.
Among those affected are children requiring dialysis treatment at Rantisi Children’s Hospital in Gaza City. “We never know when the power will be on or off,” says Wijdan Muslih, mother of one such child patient. The four-hour treatment sessions are disrupted by power cuts, which puts the health of patients at risk and damages the machines. The children are bored and hot, with no TV to distract them or AC to keep them cool during the dialysis sessions. |
“There’s no schedule and sometimes it comes for a brief period, then cuts again,” she added.
“Dialysis takes four hours and the power might go out four or five times,” Atallah Abu Hijia, the father of another young patient, complained.
“This is one of the worst periods we’ve been through, with power down to just three hours a day,” said Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of the pediatric hospital.
Dr. Ayman al-Sahbani, spokesperson at al-Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza, warned that if backup generators break down, “it will be a catastrophe.”
“We’ve been warning the world about this and we pray to God that this does not happen,” he added.
“Dialysis takes four hours and the power might go out four or five times,” Atallah Abu Hijia, the father of another young patient, complained.
“This is one of the worst periods we’ve been through, with power down to just three hours a day,” said Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of the pediatric hospital.
Dr. Ayman al-Sahbani, spokesperson at al-Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza, warned that if backup generators break down, “it will be a catastrophe.”
“We’ve been warning the world about this and we pray to God that this does not happen,” he added.
29 aug 2017
Nearly 15 Gazan patients have died since the beginning of 2017 after the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) refused to issue them the necessary permits to receive treatment abroad, according to human rights statistics on Tuesday.
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights said in a statement that the illegal measures launched by Israel against Palestinian patients in the Gaza Strip have caused their health conditions to deteriorate.
Patients who need to travel to the West Bank, Jerusalem or the 1948 occupied territories are asked to submit requests to receive prior permits by the IOA. They are often denied these permits or blackmailed to get them.
Al-Mezan pointed out that the number of deaths among Gazan patients has increased to 15 after the IOA deprived two women of receiving treatment outside the Gaza Strip.
The Center said that Kaenat Ja'rour, 42, a uterine cancer patient, and Faten Ahmad, 26, who suffered a brain tumor, died after the IOA rejected their requests and appeals to obtain permits many times.
According to the human rights center, four patients as well as their accompanying relatives were arrested by the IOA at Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing despite having the required permits.
Al-Mezan called on the international community to act urgently to stop the ongoing Israeli violations and pressure Israel to lift the blockade imposed on Gaza and let patients travel for treatment.
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights said in a statement that the illegal measures launched by Israel against Palestinian patients in the Gaza Strip have caused their health conditions to deteriorate.
Patients who need to travel to the West Bank, Jerusalem or the 1948 occupied territories are asked to submit requests to receive prior permits by the IOA. They are often denied these permits or blackmailed to get them.
Al-Mezan pointed out that the number of deaths among Gazan patients has increased to 15 after the IOA deprived two women of receiving treatment outside the Gaza Strip.
The Center said that Kaenat Ja'rour, 42, a uterine cancer patient, and Faten Ahmad, 26, who suffered a brain tumor, died after the IOA rejected their requests and appeals to obtain permits many times.
According to the human rights center, four patients as well as their accompanying relatives were arrested by the IOA at Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing despite having the required permits.
Al-Mezan called on the international community to act urgently to stop the ongoing Israeli violations and pressure Israel to lift the blockade imposed on Gaza and let patients travel for treatment.
21 aug 2017
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has come under fire from Palestinians and Israeli alike after it announced it was sending medical supplies to Venezuela, amid accusations that the Ramallah-based government is responsible for creating the worst medications crisis the besieged Gaza Strip has seen in years through recent debilitating budget cuts.
Upon an order from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, three truck-loads of medical supplies were sent to Venezuela, which Minister of Foreign Affairs Riad al-Malki said was an effort to “repay what it can for what the Venezuelan government has presented to the Palestinian people,” citing the donation of 15 million dollars that was used to construct an eye hospital in the Ramallah-area.
The aid delivery faced a wide backlash from Palestinians on social media, fueling anti-PA sentiment that has mounted in recent months due to a number of policies seen as a deliberate attempt to send the impoverished Gaza Strip further into a humanitarian catastrophe -- by slashing funding for Israeli fuel, medicine, and salaries for civil servants and former prisoners -- in order to wrest control of the territory from rival faction Hamas.
As the PA has restricted medicine deliveries to Gaza, it has also allegedly drastically reduced the number of permits it grants to Palestinians in the blockaded coastal enclave to get life-saving medical treatment abroad.
A recent public opinion poll showed that 62 percent of the Palestinian public want Abbas to resign, and also documented widespread public rejection the cuts to salaries and Israeli-supplied fuel in Gaza.
Despite this, Abbas has doubled down on his policies against the Gaza Strip, and threatened further repressive measures should Hamas not unconditionally abide by the PA’s demands to resolve the decade-long intra-Palestinian conflict.
The aid delivery to Venezuela also drew ire as it required PA coordination with Israel to ship from Israel’s Ashdod port. This comes as Abbas has also claimed to have upheld a freeze on all coordination with Israel, including its controversial security coordination -- another primary source of anti-PA anger among Palestinians.
“While the health services has collapsed in Gaza (sic), Palestinian President Abbas has decided to send medical assistance from Ashdod to Venezuela,” the Twitter account for the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish-flagged ship that took part in the aid flotilla to Gaza in 2010, admonished on Monday.
Ahmed Jarrar, a freelance journalist in Gaza wrote on Facebook: "Venezuela is in our head, and helping them is a duty, but cutting the aid to Gaza and sending it to Venezuela -- the same aid that was given to help Palestinians -- it's not logical and completely mad."
Meanwhile, Yoav Mordechai, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), responsible for enforcing Israeli policies in the occupied Palestinian territory, quipped on Facebook: “We draw the Palestinian Authority’s attention to the fact that traveling from Ramallah to Gaza is only one hour, while the distance between Venezuela and Ramallah is more than 10,000 kilometers.”
However, despite Israel’s best efforts to wash its hands of the ever worsening crisis in Gaza, with multiple officials describing it as an internal Palestinian issue between the Fatah-led PA and Hamas, rights groups -- while acknowledging the PA's role in exacerbating the humanitarian situation -- have insisted that Israeli siege bears the brunt of responsibility for what the UN has described as an “unlivable” environment.
Israeli NGO B’Tselem has blamed the blockade for putting Gaza “in the throes of a humanitarian disaster,” adding that Israel was “consigning (Gaza’s) residents to living in abject poverty under practically inhuman conditions unparalleled in the modern world.”
“This is not some sort of natural disaster,” B’Tselem added. “Had that been the case, Israel would have likely sent in a humanitarian aid mission. Instead, the reality in Gaza is the result of Israel’s handiwork, achieved by its decade-long implementation of a brutal policy.”
Upon an order from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, three truck-loads of medical supplies were sent to Venezuela, which Minister of Foreign Affairs Riad al-Malki said was an effort to “repay what it can for what the Venezuelan government has presented to the Palestinian people,” citing the donation of 15 million dollars that was used to construct an eye hospital in the Ramallah-area.
The aid delivery faced a wide backlash from Palestinians on social media, fueling anti-PA sentiment that has mounted in recent months due to a number of policies seen as a deliberate attempt to send the impoverished Gaza Strip further into a humanitarian catastrophe -- by slashing funding for Israeli fuel, medicine, and salaries for civil servants and former prisoners -- in order to wrest control of the territory from rival faction Hamas.
As the PA has restricted medicine deliveries to Gaza, it has also allegedly drastically reduced the number of permits it grants to Palestinians in the blockaded coastal enclave to get life-saving medical treatment abroad.
A recent public opinion poll showed that 62 percent of the Palestinian public want Abbas to resign, and also documented widespread public rejection the cuts to salaries and Israeli-supplied fuel in Gaza.
Despite this, Abbas has doubled down on his policies against the Gaza Strip, and threatened further repressive measures should Hamas not unconditionally abide by the PA’s demands to resolve the decade-long intra-Palestinian conflict.
The aid delivery to Venezuela also drew ire as it required PA coordination with Israel to ship from Israel’s Ashdod port. This comes as Abbas has also claimed to have upheld a freeze on all coordination with Israel, including its controversial security coordination -- another primary source of anti-PA anger among Palestinians.
“While the health services has collapsed in Gaza (sic), Palestinian President Abbas has decided to send medical assistance from Ashdod to Venezuela,” the Twitter account for the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish-flagged ship that took part in the aid flotilla to Gaza in 2010, admonished on Monday.
Ahmed Jarrar, a freelance journalist in Gaza wrote on Facebook: "Venezuela is in our head, and helping them is a duty, but cutting the aid to Gaza and sending it to Venezuela -- the same aid that was given to help Palestinians -- it's not logical and completely mad."
Meanwhile, Yoav Mordechai, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), responsible for enforcing Israeli policies in the occupied Palestinian territory, quipped on Facebook: “We draw the Palestinian Authority’s attention to the fact that traveling from Ramallah to Gaza is only one hour, while the distance between Venezuela and Ramallah is more than 10,000 kilometers.”
However, despite Israel’s best efforts to wash its hands of the ever worsening crisis in Gaza, with multiple officials describing it as an internal Palestinian issue between the Fatah-led PA and Hamas, rights groups -- while acknowledging the PA's role in exacerbating the humanitarian situation -- have insisted that Israeli siege bears the brunt of responsibility for what the UN has described as an “unlivable” environment.
Israeli NGO B’Tselem has blamed the blockade for putting Gaza “in the throes of a humanitarian disaster,” adding that Israel was “consigning (Gaza’s) residents to living in abject poverty under practically inhuman conditions unparalleled in the modern world.”
“This is not some sort of natural disaster,” B’Tselem added. “Had that been the case, Israel would have likely sent in a humanitarian aid mission. Instead, the reality in Gaza is the result of Israel’s handiwork, achieved by its decade-long implementation of a brutal policy.”
