12 Aug, 2017
Cancer-stricken Palestinian woman dies after Israel delays permit to reach hospital
GAZA, August 10, 2017 (WAFA) – A 47-year-old woman with cancer died in Gaza on Tuesday Aug 8 while waiting for an Israeli army permit to get treatment in a hospital outside Gaza, al-Mezan human rights center said on Thursday.
It said Itimad Fathi Rabi, from Shabora refugee camp in Rafah, was suffering from cancer in the colon and had requested permit to leave Gaza for treatment in an East Jerusalem hospital.
However, she was delayed in getting a permit several times in spite of obtaining hospital appointments and Health Ministry fully-paid referral papers and died on the day she was supposed to be in Jerusalem for further treatment but her permit was conditioned on changing the person who was supposed to accompany her, which would also take time to do.
Rabi died at Gaza’s European Hospital after serious deterioration in her health that made it impossible to move her even in an ambulance, said the center.
Al-Mezan strongly denounced the Israeli restriction on movement of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip even for critical patients seeking treatment not provided in Gaza.
It held Israel responsible for the death of Rabi, warning that unless this situation is resolved, more patients are expected to die.
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