Palestinian child dies due to the Israeli siege on Gaza

Thursday December 20, 2007 12:15 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

Palestinian medical sources reported on Thursday that a Palestinian child died on Wednesday night because of the Israeli army siege on the Gaza Strip.

Rawan Nassar, a 15 year old girl, died from kidney failure, she needed to undergo a dialysis session, but because of the army siege in the Gaza strip she was not able to leave the costal region to get the treatment she needed.

In Gaza hospitals there are several machines that can perform the dialysis but since the army has not allowed medical supplies into Gaza for four months, these machines are not equipped to serve the needs of the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Strip.

With the death of Nassar the number of Palestinians who have died due to being prevented by Israel from leaving Gaza for medical treatment now stands at 43, the youngest was Ibraheem Abu Nahal, one and half years old. The Israeli army has closed all entrances and exits from the Gaza strip since late June, shortly after Hamas took total control of the Gaza strip.

Despite of the withdrawal in September 2005, Israel still controls all entry and exit points serving Gaza Strip, and since the beginning of September 2007, all borders have been completely sealed, even for patients in dire need of medical treatment.

The Physicians for Human Rights, based in Israel, filed an appeal in the Israeli High Court mid October on behalf of eleven extremely ill Palestinian patients, in a bid to allow them to leave Gaza for lifesaving medical treatment.

Since then, four of the patients have been allowed to pass, three have died of their illnesses. In late November the High Court ruled that the four patients should receive permission to exit Gaza to receive treatment in either Israel, the West Bank or Egypt, and gave the Israeli government one week to respond.

The ruling was not final, and came after two and a half week delay during which two of the patients died. The army refused to accept the court ruling and the high court dismissed the case shortly after.

In earlier reports media sources in Gaza said that the army was demanding Palestinian Patients leaving Gaza to give up information about resistance leaders or they would not be allowed out of the costal region.

gaza strip | israeli attacks | news report ghassanb at imemc dot org