A Palestinian mother who traveled to Gaza to bury two of her triplets has been reunited with her one surviving daughter after Israel deprived her of a travel permit to return to the hospital to collect the child for almost six months.
According to a report by Israel’s Channel 13 yesterday, the Palestinian mother – whose name has not been released – was rushed to Al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem’s Al-Tur neighborhood in January.
After 6 months apart, Gaza mother to join baby daughter in Jerusalem hospital https://t.co/tRSemEp5GI
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) May 29, 2019
The woman was heavily pregnant with triplets and had been transferred to the hospital from the besieged Gaza Strip for surgery.
Although the woman gave birth to all three babies, two died just a few days later. The mother had to travel back to Gaza to bury her two children, leaving the remaining child – baby girl Shahad – in the East Jerusalem hospital to be taken care of by hospital staff.
Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid in the world. They offer their citizens complete healthcare coverage paid for by US tax dollars while Palestinians die on a daily basis because they are unable to access healthcare in the occupied territories much less pay for it https://t.co/faCsuOhphi
— John Smith (@AlBiRumi) May 20, 2019
However, the mother has since been prevented from traveling back to Jerusalem to collect Shahad, with Israel failing to grant her a permit to leave the Strip.
Although the hospital repeatedly asked the Palestinian Authority (PA) to request a permit from the Israeli Defence Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) – which administers swathes of the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) – for Shahad’s mother to return to Jerusalem, the request was not granted.
Israeli Blockade Closes Gaza Hospital – via @smedian_network
.@Medium #medium #blog #essay #politics #news #government #refugees #Palestine #Palestinians #Palestinian #Gaza #Israel #middleeast #healthcare #hospitals #hospital #bds #boycottIsraelhttps://t.co/JAWgAHedAY
— Christopher Oldcorn (@chrisoldcorn) May 27, 2019
For six months the mother stayed in contact with Shahad via mobile video link, the Times of Israel reported today, citing Channel 13’s broadcast. It was only following efforts by the TV channel that COGAT eventually granted the mother’s permit to allow her return to Jerusalem, though it is not yet clear when she will make the journey.
The ordeal endured by Shahad’s mother is a regular feature of life for Palestinians living in the oPt. Gazans in particular often lack access to medical treatment, with the Strip’s healthcare system reported to be on the brink of collapse due to shortages in medicine, electricity outages as a result of Israel’s 12-year-old siege, and the strain of thousands of patients injured during the Great March of Return and Israel’s aerial bombardments of the coastal enclave.
(Middle East Monitor, PC, Social Media)
