Palestinians Furious With Abbas As Gazans Die Following Decision To Stop Funding Hospitalization In Israel

REUTERS/YONATHAN WEITZMAN
REUTERS/YONATHAN WEITZMAN
Ali Waked

TEL AVIV — The number of Palestinians who have died since the Palestinian Authority (PA) refused to pay for their hospitalization in Israel has risen to 12, including three infants, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.

Reports in Palestinian media in the Strip state that a nine-month-old toddler died in need of urgent medical care in Israel, bringing the number of dead to 12 as of Tuesday afternoon, including six children, three of whom were infants.

In the framework of steps taken by the PA against the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip, both Israeli and Palestinian media reported that the PA informed Israeli health services and Israeli authorities that it has stopped funding the hospitalization of Gazans in Israel.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, Dr. Ashra Alqudra, placed responsibility on the PA in Ramallah for the lives of the patients who cannot receive treatment in Israel.

Until recently, Palestinian patients whose medical condition required care at an Israeli hospital were granted special permission to enter Israel while the PA footed the bill. If the PA was late in making payments, Israel would deduct the money from the taxes it collects and hands over to the PA.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhru tweeted, “The behavior of Mahmoud Abbas and the cessation of transferring patients from the Gaza Strip (to Israel) led to the martyr’s death of many sick children, constituting a crime against humanity. We call for a humanist march to save the Gaza Strip and to stop the schemes of Abbas and Netanyahu to choke Gaza.”

Palestinian Twitter users also addressed the issue and created the hashtag “#save_gaza.”

One Twitter user, Neveen Abo Daher, wrote, “For ten years already we’ve cried out, save Gaza, save the sick in Gaza, but to no avail.”

Ibrahim Al Madhun, a journalist and author, wrote, “There’s no difference between those who bombed the children of Gaza in 2014 [the IDF] and those who kill the children of Gaza in 2017 by preventing their transfer for medical care [in Israel].”

Naji Shukri wrote, “What did the baby do that he wouldn’t be transferred for medical treatment? The baby is dead, but it’s his right to try not to die. When the [Palestinian] Authority loses its moral compass, it must be overthrown.”

https://twitter.com/NajiShukri/status/879446700703850498

Bassam Hayek wrote, “Even our children weren’t saved from the siege.”

Maher Aljamala, a lawyer, wrote, “The politicization of humanist issues among our people in Gaza reflects the dirtiest and ugliest level of human behavior.”

Journalist Sondos Emad wrote, “How many mothers are crying at this moment after losing their loved ones because of the criminal decision against the children of Gaza — the decision that did not take into account the punishment of God. There’s no one on the side of the children of Gaza but God.”

Aba Youssef wrote, “In the decision of the Fatah leader, the children of Gaza are being executed, and that’s after their transfer for medical treatment was prevented. The regime of the secular is worse than Hitler’s Nazis. Gaza won’t give up.”

Twitter user Marwa Muhammad wrote, “Have you ever heard of a person who is president but prevented his people from having medical treatment and medicine? This is the criminal Abbas; may God punish him as he deserves.”

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