Gaza Kidney Patients Protest Demanding Exit for Treatment
A correspondent on the ground described protesters in visibly deteriorated physical condition — many unable to stand, confined to wheelchairs — as they raised signs calling for their lives and the lives of their children to be spared. Demonstrators directed their appeals to the international community, demanding an end to their ordeal and immediate authorization to seek treatment outside Gaza.
Protesters chanted furiously, calling for the opening of border crossings and the lifting of Israel's blockade, warning that each passing day without action brings them closer to death.
Waiting for Death
Speaking to media on behalf of the protesters, patient Omar al-Banna said "Thousands of patients have been waiting for months for the opportunity to travel."
Al-Banna disclosed he had spent two years on a waiting list for a medical referral, with no results. "The Rafah crossing (in the south) opens and closes irregularly, and we await death day after day," he said.
He attributed the worsening crisis to the steep drop in medical referrals and the collapse of healthcare resources inside Gaza under the weight of Israel's blockade, stressing that kidney patients are "among the most marginalized groups, despite their dire need for continuous and regular treatment."
Delivering an anguished appeal, Al-Banna declared: "Enough of this war and suffering! We can't even walk or continue treatment. We just want to live like other patients around the world."
He called on Arab nations for "urgent intervention to facilitate the travel of patients and their admission for treatment, given the lack of options within the Gaza Strip due to the repercussions of the Israeli assaults."
Crossing Closure
Fellow patient Ilham Al-Khatib told Anadolu that "Kidney patients face the risk of death on daily basis, and a large percentage of them have lost their lives recently due to the lack of treatment and delays in travel."
"We have been waiting for years for a treatment chance, but we are met with the closure of the crossing (by Israel) and the suspension of referrals, while our condition deteriorates day by day," Al-Khatib added.
Patient Suhad Ali also described the crushing burden of caring for her children while battling serious illness. She confirmed losing her home to an Israeli airstrike and struggling with acute shortages of both medicine and food — conditions that have dramatically worsened her humanitarian and medical situation.
Notwithstanding a ceasefire agreement in effect since Oct. 10, Israel has failed to honor its humanitarian obligations regarding the movement of patients and the wounded seeking care abroad, permitting only negligible quantities of new aid to enter the enclave.
The truce came on the heels of a war Israel launched on Oct. 8, 2023 — one that decimated much of Gaza's hospital infrastructure, killed and detained healthcare workers, and locked Palestinians inside a tightening blockade that has pushed the health sector to the brink of total collapse.
According to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 738 Palestinians have been killed and 2,036 others wounded in near-daily Israeli strikes carried out in violation of the ceasefire since October.
The broader conflict, spanning more than two years, has claimed the lives of over 72,000 Palestinians, left more than 172,000 injured, and reduced roughly 90% of the enclave's infrastructure to rubble.
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