The AP has a sad, sad story about how Gaza hospitals are ill-equipped to deal with the results of the war.
The tumor was advanced and without quick intervention Abdullah would likely have died, said Dr. Ismail Mehr, an anesthesiologist from Hornell, N.Y. Doctors in Gaza didn’t have the expertise to operate on him and Abdullah’s father had been unable to get him transferred quickly to Israel or Egypt.
Even after the surgery, Abdullah’s prognosis is uncertain. He’ll need followup treatment, including advanced chemotherapy or radiation, which are not available in Gaza. But it’s been difficult for Gaza patients to get out, ever since Israel and Egypt closed the borders in response to the violent Hamas takeover of the territory in June 2007.
The closure also dealt a further blow to Gaza’s underdeveloped health care system, which lacks sophisticated equipment and key specialists. Hospitals often operate on generators because of disrupted power supplies, and spare parts for some machines are unavailable.
On the eve of the war, Gaza’s hospitals had run out of 250 of the basic 1,000 health care items, and were short on 105 of 480 essential drugs, including some cancer medications and anesthetics, said Mahmoud Daher, a representative of the World Health Organization.
Missing from the article is any context. There are no reports, for instance, of Hamas hijacking UN aid trucks, stealing hospital supplies, and oh yeah—hiding in bunkers in the basements of hospitals, knowing full well that Israel won’t bomb them.
Also missing from this report is the clinic that Israel set up at the Erez crossing specifically to help Palestinians wounded in the war. It’s been shut down, because Hamas told Palestinians not to go, on pain of their lives.
The Health Ministry and Magen David Adom have decided to close the emergency clinic at the Erez crossing, which was set up to treat Palestinians who were injured during the IDF’s three-week offensive in Gaza, Ynet learned Monday night.
The clinic, which opened its doors just 10 days ago, is expected to be shut down this week due to the low number of Palestinian patients, which was the result of a direct order by Hamas not to transfer the wounded to Israel.
Israel initially set up the clinic due to the collapse of Gaza’s health system, but Hamas instructed civilians not to seek treatment there.
Meanwhile, Jordan on Monday began building a field hospital in Gaza to replace the Israeli clinic. The Jordanians entered the Strip with weapons for personal security.
As always, the Israeli and Arab press can find these facts—but not the AP.
And then you get to see insult added to injury: One rights group told Israel: “Ur doin it wrong”:
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said the clinic was the wrong solution to begin with. “Israel opened the clinic for propaganda purposes. The injured must be allowed to leave Gaza and receive treatment at Israeli hospitals,” the group said.
Gall. Unmitigated gall. You would think that PHR would be more interested in healing Gazans than in slandering Israel’s purpose for helping wounded Gazans. You would be wrong.