Fatma Al-Masri 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 Israel to obtain a permit to reach her hospital appointment. Her family applied three times for permits to reach hospital appointments on 28 December 2021, 13 February 2022, and 5 April 2022. She also received hospital appointments for 6 and 27 March, though at this stage no permit application was submitted by the Palestinian Health Liaison Office. Fatma’s father was told this was because there would not enough time for processing of the permit application.
Fatma’s hospital appointments and permit applications:
|
Appointments |
Permit application date |
Destination |
Israeli response |
|
28 December 2021 |
26 December 2021 (urgent) |
Makassed Hospital |
Under study |
|
13 February 2022 |
31 January 2022 |
Makassed Hospital |
Under study |
|
6 March 2022 |
No application |
Makassed Hospital |
N/A |
|
27 March 2022 |
No application |
Makassed Hospital |
N/A |
|
5 April 2022 |
22 March 2022 |
Makassed Hospital |
Under study (Response after Fatma’s death) |