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WHO in occupied Palestinian territory
Hamzeh “Around five metres before reaching the guy, I was shot in the right side of my upper body. I went back around two meters and fell to the ground. I told the other paramedics that I had been shot".
27-year-old Hamzeh Abu Hajar is a volunteer paramedic with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS). In 2022, with increasing escalations across the West Bank, Hamzeh began volunteering as a PMRS first responder. “Every time the Israeli forces would raid Nablus Old City, I would join the field team. PMRS cars would drive us to different...
Ali “When I responded that I wanted to see what he was doing, the soldier got out of the vehicle and started pushing me and kicking me, hitting me with the back of his gun and causing me to fall to the ground.” Ali (pseudonym)
On 2 October 2022, a Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulance crew travelled to Beit Furik near Nablus, to provide first aid to persons injured during demonstrations against settlement expansion and incursions in the village, which is in the north of the West Bank. Ali was driving the ambulance, while his colleague Omar1 sat beside him....
Muhannad “For two days I couldn’t reach work. I would leave my house on foot wearing my paramedic uniform and go to the checkpoint, but the soldiers wouldn’t let me pass.” Muhannad
From 8 to 11 October, Israel enforced a near-complete closure of Shu’fat refugee camp and adjacent areas of Anata. The area, home to refugees and non-refugees in east Jerusalem, is surrounded by Israel’s separation barrier, which takes the form of an 8- to 9-metre-high concrete wall enclosing the camp. In addition to the existing checkpoint west of the...
Moaayd “These communities face a lot of violations… We should be providing health services at least three times a week, but we cover communities in three districts of the Jordan Valley and there is only so much we can do.” Moaayd
Moaayd is the driver of a mobile clinic for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) operating in the Jordan Valley of the West Bank. He has been part of the team for 10 years, working with communities in remote areas that depend on mobile clinics for access to primary health care. The communities face obstacles to planning and development,...
Musaab “This is so inhumane. How can this happen in any place in the world? Why are they blocking me from accompanying my son? I just want to hold his hand when he goes for surgery.” Musaab’s father
Musaab, 21 years old, was in the third year of his university studies in Nablus, in the north of the West Bank. In the summer of 2022, he was diagnosed with a cancer called a synovial sarcoma in his left ankle. To confirm the diagnosis and to guide the best approach to his treatment, Musaab was referred to Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem for...
Fatma “When I lost my daughter, I felt that there is no life anymore. I am sure my daughter is not the only one killed by this blockade... Why should my little girl have been denied medical treatment?” Fatma’s father
Fatma was a 19-month-old girl from Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. She died on 25 March 2022 after she was delayed access to lifesaving cardiac surgery for nearly three months. Fatma was born with a congenital heart condition known as an atrial septal defect. She needed curative surgery at Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem and was required by...
Amal “I don’t know why I am prevented. I have been waiting so long! I need to have this test so the doctor can make a clear diagnosis and give me proper treatment. I suffer and worry every day.”
Amal, 38 years old from Gaza city, was found to have a brain aneurysm (a potentially life-threatening ballooning of a blood vessel) in March 2022. On 5 June 2022, Amal was referred to An-Najah University Hospital in Nablus, in the West Bank, for brain catheterization and scan (angiography), a procedure not available in the Gaza Strip. She made...
Khalid “He is a patient and has the same right as any person who wants to get treatment.”Khaled Riham, wife of Khalid
Khalid, 36 years old from Gaza city, has end stage kidney failure. For 16 years, he has been dependent on weekly haemodialysis (a procedure to remove waste and water from the blood, to perform the function of healthy kidneys). In late 2022, Khalid required referral out of Gaza for vascular surgery so that he would be able to keep having...
WHO reports underline barriers to the Right to Health in the occupied Palestinian territory
9 May 2023 - Palestinians continue to encounter major obstacles to realizing the right to health. Today, WHO launches two reports, Right to Health 2019 to 2021 and Palestinian Voices 2022 to 2023. The reports outline how fragmentation of the Palestinian people, implementation of a permit regime, physical obstacles to movement, and protection gaps...
Palestinian Voices 2022 - 2023
Gaza Health Access Click to download Throughout the year, WHO continued to document the impact of barriers to health access on the Palestinian people in Gaza.Below are three of the cases documented from 2022 to 2023: Khalid “He is a patient and has the same right as any person who wants to get treatment.” Riham, wife of Khalid Khalid, 36...
