CANCER CHILDREN IN GAZA
According to Gazans, the number of children with cancer has increased dramatically since Operation Cast Lead a year and a half ago. I just got off the phone with Saed, a colleague of mine who lives and works in Gaza city, and he says that each evening when he comes home from work, he hears about two-year-old Rami down the road who now has cancer; six-month old Riham whose been coughing blood ...
They're convinced that the phosphorous bombs Israel used in the operation was the cause. A particularly sad story involves a woman named Rawda Hamada. I never met her but she spoke with Said and told him she was trying - desperately - to get out of Gaza. "The Israeli soldiers threw bombs with phosphorous under our balconies," he recounts to me. "Soon after, my arm began to itch. I went to hospital and they gave me some liniment. But the itch didn't end. I went to hospital again and they told me I had cancer in the stomach."
Israel denies the charges. Israeli doctors say there's no proof of a connection between the two.
Months ago Rawda's husband said - almost prophetically - that political disuptes interfered with ordinary people's lives. His suggestion was echoed by a comment from the Palestinian Health Minister who told us that Hamas was trying to "instigate a new crisis in Gaza." He basically blamed Hamas for stopping Gazans from being able to receive treatment from abroad, but it's not a new charge. I remember when Operation Cast Lead was happening - I did a story at the time about activists who blamed the Fatah government for not allowing sick children to go abroad despite the fact that all donations and payments for the trips and treatments had been provided for by private donors. So the charges will go backwards and forwards - I guess the thinking is that by making locals unhappy, you can present them with a particular political viewpoint in the hope they buy into it.
And Israel's not so innocent either. Dr Zvi Bentwich of Physicians for Human Rights says that over the last two years Israeli doctors have been trying to cross into Gaza to access the situation and lend assistance. It's not clear who's denying them permission - Israel or Hamas. He told us that often-times, even after the necessary papers have been filled out, the same happens at the other side of the border - Gazan patients are turned back by Israeli soldiers for having some kind of connection with Hamas - even if it's merely having some family members who're members of the group.
Yesterday, a group of 250 children from Gaza spent the day at a summer camp - some were bussed in directly from hospital. The idea was to "protest" - bring attention to their plight. Many of them will die in the next few months if they aren't taken abroad. Hospital facilities simply cannot help them. There's no chemotherapy, for example, available in the city.
While in Israel, Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, admits almost daily cancer children from Gaza. Nearly half of the cancer patients are Gazan. Doctors say after receiving the requests, they assess the need, fill out the paperwork, fax it to the necessary authorities and then begins the procedure begins for the children to be brought in. But here's where all your bureaucratic fumblings happen - and where delays can sometimes mean death.
Which is what happened to Hamada. After trying - in vain - to get permission to leave Gaza for treatment in Israel, Egypt or Gaza - she died six months ago from cancer of the stomach. Her husband's words were sadly prophetic.