The family of the eight-month-old Omar Yaghi from Gaza was traumatized by his death from a heart disease that accompanied him from birth after he could not be transferred for surgery in Israel due to the cessation of security coordination. Between the two sides.
My father, the infant who died last Thursday, was unable to speak. The family in Gaza is "collapsed," according to the description of his uncle, Mohamed Yaghi.
Muhammad says: "His brother Ahmad, who is the father of three children," completely collapsed the moment he received the body of his child for burial, "adding that the mother (ringing) as well, has not been able to speak or eat for three days."
Muhammad holds Israel responsible and tells France Press: "We punished the occupation by declaring the authority to stop security coordination, we are the victim of the conflict."
On May 20, President Mahmoud Abbas announced the suspension of security coordination agreements with Israel due to the annexation plans.
According to the uncle who followed the baby´s medical transfer file, "He was supposed to undergo major surgery on May 24, but they told us to prevent us from traveling to Israel because of the suspension of coordination" and he means the Palestinian Civil Affairs Department.
Pressure from several human rights organizations succeeded in giving the family a new date for the operation at the expense of the Israeli Shabat Ahim Association, but Omar died on June 18, three days before the deadline.
"Our movement as a family and anyone living in Gaza is restricted," he says. "The occupation is responsible for the only access to the Strip."
Israel has imposed a total blockade of the Gaza Strip for more than 13 years, during which it restricted the movement of about two million people, as well as the movement of goods.
He added, "All human rights covenants guarantee the right of movement (...) They stopped coordination."
In its response to the death of the infant, Omar Yaghi, the Israeli Government Coordinating Unit in the Palestinian Territories "Kogat" said that it allows emergency cases to enter for treatment in Israel.
"As a policy, the Government Activities Coordination Unit in the territories continues to allow at this time also residents of the Gaza Strip access to life-saving medical treatments and other humanitarian cases," she added.
Omar was born on October 9, 2019, with complicated heart problems, and a month later he started his treatment journey at the Israeli Tel Hashomer Hospital to relieve his pain and help his heart hold out.
"The same age was cut off after midnight on Wednesday, we took him to the hospital where he underwent a cardiac resuscitation and was placed on a ventilator," said Mohammed.
The doctors said: "The situation is very serious." Muhammad spent a few hours trying to obtain medical coordination to transport Omar into Israel. "At ten in the morning, the hospital administration called and told me that he had died."
The news came to Ahmed Yaghi, Omar’s father, who had received the news of his child’s death while leaving the house towards the hospital, like a thunderbolt.
In a statement, the Israeli doctor for human rights said that Omar had died because of the delay of the operation for a month.
"The reason for the delay is the Palestinian Civil Committee stopping work," said the organization, which helped Omar get a new date for the operation.
The Palestinian Civil Committee is the body mandated by the Palestinian Authority in matters of coordination in civil affairs with Israel.
Ghada Majadleh, from Human Rights Physicians, confirms that "Israel is the first responsible, and that the Palestinian Authority has not given alternatives nor paid attention to the sick."
It adds, "The Israeli permit system is generally bureaucratic and arbitrary, in which it is problematic and much injustice and violates the rights of patients."
The director of medical transfers at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Dr. Haitham Al-Hadra, denies the absence of the Palestinian alternative.
He says: "95 percent of medical conditions can be treated in Palestinian hospitals, whether governmental or private."
Al-Hudra affirmed the cessation of medical coordination with the Israeli side, "categorically (...) We are committed to the decision of the President."
He notes that some patients move to treatment in Israel after stopping coordination, "according to individual coordination by the patients themselves and not through the ministry."
Hala Al-Jawhari, 58, lives in Nablus "in a struggle between life and death", shared by many of the same stranded patients.
The patient, who suffers from acute leukemia, says that she has been discontinued for nearly a month and a half because of the cessation of security coordination.
Al-Gohari began her treatment trip with the disease about eight months ago, and she obtained a referral for treatment at the Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital, at the expense of the Palestinian Authority.
El-Gohary, a housewife, who has not given birth to children, needs to go to the hospital on a weekly basis to inject her body with platelets and plasma, and to get the medication that enables her to move.
Neither the woman nor her retired husband can afford the medicine, as the price per pill is one thousand shekels (about $ 290) that she takes per day, nor does the cost of a week´s transportation of $ 100 pay from her own pocket.
On Wednesday, Palestinian cancer patients carried out a protest in front of the Palestinian Cabinet in the city of Ramallah.
"They called me yesterday and told me that enough medicine will be available for a month," El-Gohary said.
"I am in the unknown world," said the woman, who was overpowered by tears.
The percentage of Palestinian medical transfers to Israel decreased to only 5 percent, most of whom are marrow transplant patients, according to Al-Hadra.
But halting coordination altogether also prevented them from completing their treatment.
In March 2019, the Palestinian Ministry of Health decided to suspend medical transfers in response to Israel deducting sums from the tax it collects each month for the benefit of the Palestinian Authority.
Al-Hadra says that the cost of treatment in Israeli hospitals fell from 38 million shekels a year to only 5-7 million.
And the wastage indicates that "the occupation does not respect any agreement, and it prevents our patients from traveling for treatment in neighboring countries."
El-Gohary says, "The chemo has had an effect on my body (...) I don´t want to die."
