GENEVA
— On Wednesday, the
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported that Palestinians
who have survived Israel’s ongoing air, land, and sea raids on Gaza face an
imminent risk of death amid a dire lack of medications and the serious spread
of epidemics.
اضافة اعلان
Euro-Med
Monitor called Israel’s ban on medical supplies to hospitals and pharmacies in
the Gaza Strip a death sentence for thousands. They reiterated that this
decision is another weapon of genocide, aimed at causing severe physical and
psychological damage to the
people of Gaza that will ultimately result in their
deaths.
Testimonies
gathered by the Euro-Med Monitor team from medical officials and pharmacy
owners in the Strip indicate that the suffering of patients there is increasing
at an unprecedented rate.
According
to medical officials, there is a severe shortage of most medications,
painkillers, and other crucial supplies needed for primary care, emergency
care, and central care. The shortage even includes
children’s vaccines and
infant formula.
Haitham
Muhammad, 41, said that worms multiplied in his son’s wounds after he underwent
surgery at the
Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah due to a shortage of
sterilizers.
Muhammad
said that a missile fired by an Israeli warplane close to their home caused
shrapnel injuries to his son approximately a week ago. His son underwent the
surgery with barely any anesthesia and has since suffered from infected wounds
due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. His doctors told the family that there were no available antibiotics suitable to
combat these bacteria.
Ghada
Saeed Murjan, 37, testified that her three children recently experienced severe
vomiting. She attempted to find medication for their condition in most of the
pharmacies in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip but was unsuccessful. The
medication shortage is even more dangerous, however, for people with chronic
diseases.
Fifty-one-year-old
Shaaban Sharab informed the Euro-Med Monitor team that he has been searching
for a suitable treatment for his 26-year-old daughter, who has lung cancer, for
three weeks. Since
October 7, 2023, she has not received any chemotherapy doses,
which has resulted in a serious decline in her health.
Khawla
Ribhi, a 45-year-old displaced woman with type 1 diabetes, also experienced a
recent decline in her health after failing to obtain enough insulin.
Euro-Med
Monitor received testimonies from six people with chronic diseases, including a
heart patient and another individual who needs dialysis, in the central and
southern areas of the Gaza Strip, all of whom are suffering from deteriorating
health in light of the lack of medicines and health care available to them.
As
per the report by Euro-Med Monitor, the limited medical assistance that reaches
Gaza via the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt primarily consists of anesthetic
drugs and other medications meant for medical surgeries. It does not include
any medications meant to treat chronic illnesses and other medical conditions.
The
health of tens of thousands of patients is rapidly worsening as a result of the
extremely limited supply of medications for chronic diseases like diabetes,
high blood pressure or cholesterol, excessive lipids, pulmonary diseases, and
respiratory illnesses, amid the serious spread of epidemics in the Strip’s
overcrowded displacement centers. Euro-Med Monitor warned of the serious
implications of running out of medications for these chronically ill patients.
Hospitals
in Gaza are struggling with a severe lack of intravenous fluids, insulin, and
anesthesia supplies. Additionally, electrical-dependent medical equipment, such
as ventilators, incubators, X-rays, CT scans, analyzers, and anesthesia
machines, is becoming less and less functional due to Israel’s restrictions on
fuel.
A
shortage of antibiotic medications is another major problem, as it increases
the risk of wound infection, as is a lack of most painkillers, ointments, and
medical supplies, including traditional antiseptics like iodine. Dozens of
pregnant women have also suffered miscarriages due to the absence of
blood-thinning medications, which prevent clotting, as well as prenatal vitamin
supplements.
The
Gaza Strip is also experiencing a severe shortage of vaccine stocks, which is
contributing to thousands of cases of infectious diseases in centers for
internally displaced persons.
Additionally,
the decomposing remains of dead bodies across the Strip pose a danger that
threatens to ignite a
public health crisis.
According
to the Palestinian Health Ministry, there are currently more than 2,000 cancer
patients in the Strip, 1,100 kidney failure patients, about 50,000 cardiac
patients, more than 60,000 diabetics, and thousands of others with chronic
diseases who are unable to receive any actual health care.
This
comes at a time when just nine out of 36 hospitals and 18 out of 72 healthcare centers in Gaza are currently
operating. According to data released by the WHO, the average bed occupancy
rate in these operating hospitals is 350 percent, and the bed occupancy rate in
intensive care units is 260 percent.
Gaza’s
hospitals are also struggling with a lack of medical personnel, particularly
neurosurgeons, specialized surgeons, and intensive care nurses, as medical
personnel find it difficult to get to hospitals because of the Israeli
evacuation orders and general movement difficulties resulting from Israel’s
ongoing attacks.
Tens
of thousands of patients in the Gaza Strip will die slowly and painfully if
they do not receive medicine, medical supplies, and other necessities, Euro-Med
Monitor declared. The rights group underscored the urgent need for a
humanitarian ceasefire to protect and replenish the Strip’s remaining medical
facilities and to treat all injured and ill Gazans.
Euro-Med
Human Rights Monitor confirmed that these crimes are being committed as part of
Israel’s genocide and are evidence of Israeli collective punishment and mass
killing policies against the more than 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip. These policies violate
both international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and
Israel’s brutal campaign in the Gaza Strip is believed to be one of the
bloodiest in modern history, given the unprecedented rate of killing.
Euro-Med
Monitor reiterated its call for the international community’s parties,
particularly those who have indorsed the
Geneva Conventions and the Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to take decisive
action to halt Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians, protect civilians
and medical facilities, give them the resources they need right away, make sure
that they are no longer targeted, and hold accountable all those involved in
these crimes and violations.
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