Surviving the blockade on Gaza
The situation for 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is worse now than it has ever been since the start of the Israeli military occupation in 1967.
Monday 10 March 2008
Healthcare has become a double casualty of the current blockade: necessary medical supplies are not getting in, and patients in need of life-saving treatment are not getting out.
Nine-year-old Ameer has brain cancer and should have chemotherapy every 21 days, but there are currently no facilities for this in Gaza. For every chemotherapy session, Ameer must apply for a permit to cross into Israel. The process has become increasingly drawn-out and uncertain.
Ameer explains, "Over a year and half ago, I started having severe headaches and pain in my legs. Sometimes, I couldn't see clearly. Sometimes, I would shout out in pain. Within months I had to stop going to school.
"I've been for treatment in Israel at least 12 times. Once, we waited at the border from morning until sunset. I got a fever that day. Another time, we had a bag with us from the hospital full of medicines and toys. The soldiers made us wait for eight hours because of the bag."
This year Ameer has spent over a month in hospital in Israel. He is due to return to Israel to continue his treatment this weekend.
"I am so worried about whether or not we will get another permit," says Ameer's father, Khaled. "In November, Ameer tried three times to make an appointment. His medication had run out a month before and he ended up being 45 days late for his chemotherapy. In January, he was delayed for another 18 days and his health deteriorated."
For Ameer, suffering from cancer is tedious as well as dangerous. Due to his weak immune system and the high possibility of getting infected, he often isn't allowed to play with other children.
"I like swimming but the doctors say I am not allowed to swim because of the tube in my arm. Sometimes, I have to stay in my room, away from everyone. I go crazy and break everything around me when they do that.
"Waiting for hours to cross for my treatment is also boring and it's uncomfortable to sit on a chair for that long. My father says I must keep waiting, even if we must wait until night to cross. But I want to go home."
Ameer waiting with family at Erez crossing
Ameer's family is being helped through the permit process by Israel-based organisation, Physicians for Human Rights. The proportion of patients from Gaza being given permits to access healthcare in Israel is reported to be at an unprecedented low, falling from 90% to 65% within a year. Like Ameer, even those patients who are granted permits are sometimes denied access at the crossing itself.
The World Health Organisation has reported 20 deaths in Gaza in the last three months of 2007 due to delays in accessing specialist healthcare. Five of the 20 casualties were children, including a five year-old boy with cancer whose treatment had been delayed for over two months. The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has reported further deaths this year due to delays.
Read more about the humanitarian crisis in The Gaza Strip: A humanitarian implosion - a joint report from Amnesty International UK, CARE International UK, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Médecins du Monde, (Mercy Corps) Oxfam and Save the Children UK.
What we are doing
In response to the current blockade, Save the Children has provided the local water board with mobile tankers for water and fuel so it can deliver water to residents cut-off from supplies by fuel shortages, and transfer fuel to key water and sewage treatment works during emergencies. We also supplied the water utility with safety boots and protective clothing for its maintenance workers involved in clean-up operations when treatment works break down through lack of fuel.
Following the recent escalation in violence we are undertaking an assessment of needs in Gaza, and are continuing to monitor and document the affect of the blockade on children, focusing on access to healthcare and the impact on education. We're ensuring the voices of children in Gaza are heard in the media and brought to the attention of the world's leaders.
Our ongoing programmes in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) focus on education and child rights. In six schools across Gaza (15 across OPT as a whole) we work to reduce corporal punishment and violence between classmates and within families in order to increase protection for children within the school and the wider community.
