Last updated: 10/25/202411:16 PM (Mecca time)
The repeated Israeli occupation attacks through what it calls its military operations in cities in the West Bank, especially Jenin and its camp, and its attacks on ambulance crews and hospitals, have deprived Palestinians of receiving health care.
The road in front of Jenin Hospital has become impassable, after the Israeli army destroyed it during a recent operation, and moving between piles of rubble and mud has become difficult for patients and ambulances.
Hospital Director Wissam Bakr said that it is very difficult for patients and also dangerous to reach the hospital as a result of the occupation’s incursions and during the clashes, pointing out that the occupation’s military vehicles are often stationed in front of the hospital entrance.
Bakr added – to Agence France-Presse – that among the patients are those who need regular monitoring, such as dialysis patients, pregnant women, and those who need chemotherapy, noting that “their delay in receiving treatment may threaten their lives.”
Bakr confirmed that the hospital organized the transfer of patients to other hospitals, especially to Nablus, while non-governmental organizations are trying to contribute to training some residents in first aid.
Within one year, the Israeli army carried out multiple incursions and raids, during which it carried out arrests and acts of sabotage as part of what it described as “military operations to pursue wanted persons” in a camp in the city of Jenin, which witnessed clashes between resistance fighters during those raids.
Health care workers and residents said that ambulances were subjected to Israeli army fire and systematic searches, stressing that the area surrounding the general hospital was cordoned off.
Hazem Masarwa, an ambulance driver for decades in the camp, said that his working conditions are very complex, and that the obstacles increased as the occupation escalated its campaigns after October 7, 2023.
Masarwa added that the occupation army closes the entrances to hospitals every time it enters the area and that “this is a reality” and has become a “routine” matter, stressing that he witnessed the death of two people due to lack of care within one year in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.
A year ago, the Palestinian Red Crescent recorded “804 violations” of its medical missions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the death of 14 people “because they were prevented from receiving emergency medical services they needed.”
The Israeli army claimed, in response to a question from Agence France-Presse, that these were “false” accounts, and that the ambulances were used by “terrorists” in an “abusive” manner, he said.
During the night of early September, while the Israeli army was carrying out operations in the camp for 10 days, Omaima Awadin was about to give birth before an ambulance could hardly arrive and take her from her home.
The ambulance toured for 4 hours, due to the restrictions imposed by the Israeli army, and finally arrived at a private hospital where she gave birth to her child, but the mother and son suffered from complications.
In the neighborhood where Omaima lives, the road was also damaged by the occupation’s incursions, and traces of bullets appear on the buildings, while a nurse there confirms that “patients enter the hospital with shoes soaked in mud mixed with dust,” and the street emits foul odors from the sewage pipes that were destroyed. Israeli bulldozers.
Najat, the wife of a dialysis patient, asked: “Can we live like this?”, speaking about her husband’s inability to receive treatment regularly for months.
“Israel continues to attack the West Bank in parallel with the Gaza Strip, not only with weapons but also by preventing people from obtaining treatment,” Najat said, adding, “My husband may die if he cannot dialysis.”
For her part, Umm Akram left Jenin camp during a military operation at the end of last August, so that her daughter, who suffers from high blood pressure, would not remain “for 10 days without medication.”
When she returned, she found her house “upside down”; After the soldiers raided him. She expressed her regret that her garden was exposed to a fire after an explosion, stressing that she paid this price while trying to preserve her daughter’s health.
In parallel with its war on Gaza, which has continued for the 385th day, the Israeli army is escalating its military campaigns in the West Bank, in addition to its settlers’ attacks on Palestinians, which led to the death of 760 Palestinians, the injury of about 6,300, and the arrest of 11,400 since October 7, 2023, according to official Palestinian data.
