Urgent.. Report: Daily deaths due to the siege and Israel’s prevention of the entry of medicines into Gaza
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that the Gaza Strip records many deaths every day as a result of the arbitrary blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip, and its continued prevention of the entry of medical supplies, including medical devices and essential medicines, after systematically and extensively destroying the health sector over the past ten months.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor added that this requires urgent action more than ever to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip, and to bring in medical supplies to save the lives of sick and wounded civilians, and to guarantee the right to travel for treatment for people whose medical conditions require it, and to bring in the necessary supplies to rebuild the health system immediately and ensure its protection from Israeli targeting in the Gaza Strip. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor confirmed in a statement that it receives dozens of complaints daily from Palestinians who need to travel or travel for their relatives to receive life-saving treatment outside the Gaza Strip, due to the lack of appropriate treatment or medicines and medical devices and the majority of hospitals being out of service, due to the blockade and Israeli targeting. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor pointed out that Israel has closed the Rafah land crossing with Egypt, the only outlet for travel in the Gaza Strip during the war, since its military forces were redeployed and stationed there and large parts of it were destroyed last May, which has deprived thousands of injured and sick people from traveling to receive treatment, leading to the death of hundreds of them so far. It stated that data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza indicates that there are more than 12,000 injured people and 14,000 patients in need of urgent external transfer to save their lives, stressing that these are part of the tens of thousands in dire need of travel to complete treatment or receive essential health and rehabilitation services that are not available in the Gaza Strip. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor confirmed that dozens of deaths are recorded daily among patients and the elderly, most of whom are due to the lack of medicines or treatment or the lack of adequate health care, and these are not officially counted among the victims of the ongoing Israeli attack, noting that data from the Ministry of Health indicate a significant increase in the death rate in the Gaza Strip during the past months compared to the same period in the previous two years, and that a relationship was observed between the increase in deaths, hospitals going out of service, and the collapse of the health system as a result of systematic Israeli targeting. In one of the cases documented by Euro-Med, Palestinian Ishaq Nael Mushtaha (29 years old) died on Saturday, August 3, after suffering from malnutrition and not being able to travel for treatment. In a previous statement to the Euro-Med team, Muhammad Nael Mushtaha (the brother of the deceased patient) requested that his brother be allowed to travel for treatment, indicating that he had been suffering from symptoms such as colic and abdominal pain before the war on Gaza. At the beginning of the war, the disease began to worsen and his condition worsened after he underwent an intestinal operation on May 2, during which 30 cm of his intestines were removed and his weight dropped from 75 to 39 kilograms. As a result of the closure of the crossing, Mushtaha’s appeals to travel for treatment remained unanswered until he died. Euro-Med presented a group of complaints it received about the suffering of patients or their families as a result of the lack of treatment, including what was reported by the mother of the child Youssef Basil Al-Adham. (Two and a half years old) from northern Gaza told the Euro-Mediterranean team that her child was injured in a house bombing and emerged from under the rubble with cerebral palsy. He now suffers from malnutrition and ulcers on his body. Doctors tried to treat him and he underwent several operations, but to no avail due to the destruction of medical facilities due to the military attack and the lack of appropriate healthcare. She added: “My child needs to travel abroad for treatment so that I can see him able to sit again at least as the doctor told me, but despite registering for a transfer abroad in case the crossing is closed, this is not possible.” The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory indicated that thousands of cancer patients are facing severe suffering and are threatened with death due to the lack of treatment and their need to be transferred to travel to receive chemotherapy doses. “Maysaa Alian Kamel Aliwa” reported: She is a cancer patient who did not receive treatment due to the war conditions. She told the Euro-Mediterranean team: “I have been a cancer patient since 2018. Our life was difficult during the war, and apart from the Israeli bombing, water was a problem for us because it was difficult to provide, and we used to go to a faraway place to get water… I suffered from displacement and bombing… We spent nights under the bombing of planes and random artillery shells. A place behind us was bombed, and we miraculously escaped death and were displaced to Khan Yunis without having any of the necessities of life, the least of which were water and food. During my displacement, I was without treatment or follow-up of my condition, and I used to relieve my pain with simple painkillers that had no effect. The hospitals were far away and we walked without getting the necessary medical care in light of the collapse of the hospitals. Every day I feel that I am getting closer to death.” The mother of the child, “Abdullah Muhammad Akrim,” reported: (9 years old) told the Euro-Mediterranean team: “We were displaced to a school after our house was bombed in northern Gaza. My son suddenly became ill and we took him to Kamal Adwan Hospital, the only hospital still operating at a time when the health system in northern Gaza is collapsing. He was admitted to intensive care for 3 days and then doctors diagnosed his condition as kidney failure and the need for dialysis. I attribute this to his reliance on canned food for months and the lack of minerals and vitamins, which is not available due to the lack of fruits, food, treatment and supplements in northern Gaza.” Saher Nasr, a pediatrician at Kamal Adwan Hospital, told the Euro-Mediterranean team that cases of illness have become widespread among children in northern Gaza in recent days due to malnutrition and weak immunity. He added: “During the war, many skin diseases have spread among children, most of which we had not previously recorded cases of infection, most of which are caused by bacteria and viruses, in addition to fungi that only affect those with weak immunity. These diseases are contagious and the cases are increasing due to the overcrowding of the population in shelters, in addition to the lack of hygiene and water pollution, and the lack of food and malnutrition due to the reliance on canned foods that contain preservatives and the lack of proteins in food. This has caused delayed wound healing and infections, and treatment is currently unavailable in the form of ointments or antibiotics. We in the hospital are dealing with the symptoms without being able to treat or control the disease. If the current situation continues, the numbers will increase even more and we will see more difficult cases.” The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor stressed that the ongoing siege and closure of crossings, after the Israeli army destroyed hospitals and health facilities in the Gaza Strip and put most of them out of service, means an Israeli decision to carry out a mass execution of patients and the injured and kill them deliberately. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that the destruction of hospitals, medical facilities and transportation, the prevention of the entry of medicines and medical equipment, and the killing and arrest of medical personnel are at the forefront of the genocide crime that Israel has been carrying out in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, slowly killing those who were not directly killed by the attacks, through deprivation of necessary treatment, food, and other materials indispensable for survival. It stressed that the destruction of the health sector is a fundamental pillar of the systematic, organized, and large-scale plan implemented by Israel to destroy the lives of Palestinians in the Strip, eliminate them, and transform their homeland into a place that is uninhabitable and lacks the most basic necessities of life and basic services, through integrated crimes, the most dangerous of which is the systematic and large-scale targeting of the health sector and putting it out of service through destruction and siege, bringing it to the point of no return, and depriving Palestinians of opportunities for survival, life, and recovery, and even shelter. He stressed that the crimes committed by Israel against hospitals and protected persons, including the wounded and sick, in the Gaza Strip also constitute full-fledged war crimes, in addition to being crimes against humanity as they are carried out within the framework of the systematic and widespread Israeli military attack against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor also confirmed that the Israeli army is committing crimes against the hospitals of the Strip without respect for the rules of international law, especially international humanitarian law, and in flagrant violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality, military necessity and taking necessary precautions, and the special protection enjoyed by civilian hospitals and medical staff, and the protection enjoyed by civilians whether in this capacity or because they are not directly participating in hostilities, as well as a violation of the protection enjoyed by the wounded and sick, and the prohibition of targeting them, even if they are military personnel. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor renewed its call for urgent international intervention to stop the crime of genocide, lift the arbitrary siege on the Gaza Strip, allow the entry of life-saving aid and food and non-food items, immediately rebuild the health sector, establish field hospitals in northern Gaza, pressure Israel to stop its repeated attacks on hospitals that have put them out of service, ensure the safety of medical staff, patients, the wounded and the displaced inside, enable them to receive life-saving treatment, and ensure the transfer of thousands of emergency cases for treatment abroad.
