Khan Younis and Rafah, Gaza Strip, Palestine – In a small house in Khan Younis, surrounded by a war-torn panorama so far as the eyes can see, Abeer al-Awady counts the minutes till the much-anticipated ceasefire.
Her daughter Hanaa’s life will depend on it.
The 15-year-old lets out a piercing cry every time Abeer lifts the blanket shielding her face. Even the faintest glimmer of sunshine triggers excruciating ache within the teenager’s delicate, swollen eyes, leaving Abeer with no selection however to heed her daughter’s agonised pleas to be lined once more.
Beneath the blanket lies a face marked by the relentless toll of most cancers. A purple mass protrudes from her left eye, her head seems shrunken, and her frail arms barely transfer. Her weakened voice and fixed cries inform of the ache she’s endured since her prognosis three months in the past.
Abeer prays that the Rafah crossing, which Gaza shares with Egypt and has been sealed shut by Israel since its floor operation within the southernmost area of the enclave in Could, opens as quickly because the ceasefire comes into impact early Sunday. “I don’t know the way for much longer Hanaa will survive,” she mentioned.
For thousands of wounded Palestinians in Gaza and sufferers like Hanaa, the ceasefire agreed to by the Israeli cupboard on Saturday after a lot political pressure, is greater than a diplomatic milestone; it’s a matter of survival. The Rafah crossing is anticipated to open as a part of the deal, permitting Palestinians in Gaza to depart for medical therapy.
The territory’s healthcare sector has been ravaged by the conflict, depleting it of human sources, gear and infrastructure, and medical employees who’ve braved Israeli assaults and are left with little to supply their sufferers.
“There’s nothing that Gaza’s healthcare sector might supply these vital circumstances: no medicine, no specialists, no operations or procedures, no correct gear,” Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of al-Shifa Medical Advanced and head of the Division of Therapy Overseas, informed Al Jazeera, including that for a lot of the one likelihood of survival is therapy overseas.
The ceasefire is ready to ease the exit of Gaza Palestinians in want of medical therapy by means of the Rafah border crossing. “The main points of the place sufferers will go for therapy are nonetheless not clear. The 5,300 Gazans who left for therapy since October 2023 went to Arab and European nations, in addition to the US. It’s nonetheless not clear the nations to which these circumstances will go,” famous Abu Salmiya.
Dying sentence
For Abeer, who additionally has two sons, the Rafah crossing is their household’s solely hope to carry onto her Hanaa. “Hanaa prognosis’ felt like a loss of life sentence for our household,” mentioned Abeer, her voice breaking as tears streamed down her face. “However to look at her situation worsen day by day, with nothing that we or anybody in Gaza can supply, is one other degree of torment.”
The household’s ordeal started when Hanaa’s eyes swelled, prompting a go to to a watch physician who referred her instantly to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. There, exams confirmed the devastating information: Hanaa had most cancers, with a number of tumours in her head.
Abeer recounted how her once-energetic daughter, regardless of being born with cerebral atrophy and having a speech impairment, had thrived with sharp listening to, clear imaginative and prescient, and a zest for all times. However since her prognosis, Hanaa has misplaced her sight fully, and her listening to is quickly deteriorating. An enormous tumour in her throat has additionally meant she’s unable to eat, and he or she now depends on a feeding tube linked to her abdomen.
For 3 months, Hanaa has acquired no most cancers therapy as a result of lack of medical provides in Gaza. “All she will get are painkillers to assist her sleep,” Abeer mentioned. “If it weren’t for this conflict and the blockade, Hanaa might have began therapy and recovered. As a substitute, her situation has worsened, robbing her of her senses and leaving her immobile.”
Sufferers dying each day
Based on Abu Salmiya, there are 20,000 sufferers and wounded Palestinians in Gaza in want of therapy, of whom 12,000 are in dire circumstances. “Practically 6,000 individuals wounded by the conflict want pressing therapy in amenities overseas. These embrace roughly 4,000 amputees, and greater than 2,000 circumstances sustaining critical accidents to their spine and their spinal wire, leading to crippling and paralysis,” he mentioned.
In a speech delivered at a United Nations Safety Council assembly on January 3, Dr Rik Peeperkorn, World Well being Group (WHO) consultant for the West Financial institution and Gaza, mentioned greater than 1 / 4 of the 105,000 civilians injured through the 15-month Israeli pounding of Gaza face “life-changing accidents”. Describing hospitals as “battlegrounds”, UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk quoted WHO figures of 654 assaults on healthcare amenities, resulting in 886 deaths and 1,349 accidents.
Based on the organisation, greater than 1,000 healthcare employees have been killed since October 2023, including additional pressure to an overstretched healthcare system, during which solely 16 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially operational, and as few as 1,800 beds can be found.
“We’re dropping sufferers with circumstances that we might’ve simply dealt with if not for the conflict. We’ve misplaced practically 25 p.c of our dialysis sufferers. Infants with coronary heart circumstances are dying every day in incubators as a result of we can’t function on them. As many as 20 sufferers of curable diseases die each day in entrance of helpless employees,” famous Abu Salmiya.
For these vital circumstances, exiting the territory has been “a tedious and futile course of”, particularly because the closure of the Rafah crossing, added the official. “Israel’s restrictions on the Karem Abu Salem [Kerem Shalom] border crossing [between Gaza and Israel] meant many weren’t allowed to depart though they got the inexperienced mild to. As an example, infants could be given permission to go, however with out their moms,” he defined. Solely 490 medical circumstances had been allowed to depart the territories since Could. “Out of 12,000 vital circumstances, 490 is nothing,” commented Abu Salmiya.
Based on Abu Salmiya, a ceasefire have to be accompanied by an inflow of sources and an ease of departure for sufferers going out. “We urgently want plastic and burn surgeons, bone restoration consultants, in addition to consultants in neurosurgery, vascular surgical procedure, pediatric surgical procedure, thoracic surgical procedure, maxillofacial surgical procedure and cardiac surgical procedure,” he mentioned.
He additionally referred to as on the WHO, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt to “make sure the protected and well timed departure of medical circumstances to be hospitalised around the globe, taking into consideration that the majority have misplaced their journey paperwork amidst the conflict and displacement,” pleaded the official.
Determined hopes in Nasser Hospital
At Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital, 14-year-old Raghd al-Farra lies in a hospital mattress, barely capable of converse. Her dream of surviving her accidents and dwelling a standard life will depend on receiving therapy outdoors Gaza.
Raghd was critically injured on July 22, 2024, when an Israeli air strike hit her household’s residence. “The ache by no means ends,” she mentioned, her phrases sluggish and strained. Raghd has spent a lot of the previous six months within the hospital, transferring between departments for nerve, bone, and belly care.
Her mom, Shadia al-Farra, recounted the day their residence was bombed. Shadia and three of her daughters, together with Raghd, had been on the higher flooring, whereas her husband and their youngest youngster had been downstairs. “The partitions collapsed round us,” she mentioned. The strike additionally destroyed a neighbouring residence, killing its occupants.
Raghd’s accidents had been extreme. Medical doctors recognized her with two spinal fractures, complicated fractures in her proper leg, and large inside bleeding. She underwent emergency surgical procedure to take away her spleen and elements of her lungs, however her situation stays vital. “She nonetheless has extreme fibrosis and different belly problems that require therapy unavailable in Gaza,” her mom mentioned.
In late August, docs at Nasser Hospital ready a file for Raghd’s switch overseas, submitting it to Israeli authorities by means of WHO in mid-September. Nonetheless, no approval has been granted, and Raghd’s situation continues to say no. She struggles to breathe, transfer, or eat, and just lately had her tonsils eliminated to deal with additional problems.
Shadia fears her daughter’s time is operating out. “If Rafah doesn’t open quickly, Raghd received’t survive. Her life will depend on specialised care that Gaza can’t present,” she mentioned.
The stakes are excessive for sufferers and their households, who’ve endured immense struggling through the 15-month conflict. “Our kids are dying in entrance of our eyes,” Shadia mentioned. “We’re powerless as a result of our medical system is overwhelmed. The ceasefire and Rafah’s reopening are our solely hope.”
This piece was revealed in collaboration with Egab.
