Hamas executives said Gaza on Wednesday would bar patients from the Palestinian region from going to a field hospital opened by a U.S. charity in protest of what they say are inadequate services.
The hospital, which is located on anyone’s land near the Israeli border, is set to support the health system that has gone overboard in the closed loop.
Treatment of coronavirus patients in the Gaza Strip
(Photo: EPA)
Medical staff get to the site from Israel, while patients have to go through a checkpoint run by Hamas to reach the area. The hospital’s idea came under informal peace between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that has ruled Gaza since 2007, to alleviate living conditions and prevent further cross-border violence.
First, Hamas and Israel – bitter enemies who have fought three wars and dozens of smaller minions – saw a common interest in the project. Gaza’s health system has been shattered by years of Israeli-Egyptian blockade that led to the separation of Hamas, conflict and inter-Palestinian divisions.
Christian evangelical group FriendShips, which quietly built their “Camp Gaza” tent hospital over the past year and a half, said this week that it was “ready to receive patients.” With a photo of a worker medical smile on the project’s Facebook page, he said that we are “sincerely awaiting the coordination of patients from the Ministry of Health in Gaza.”
Palestinian Hamas police patrol on empty streets amid the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Gaza
(Photo: EPA)
But the ministry now says it will not send patients, considering the hospital is not providing promised services.
“We have looked without offering the required service, which cooperation with the new hospital is not welcome,” said Abdeltaif al-Hajj, head of international cooperation. “It does not provide the services we hoped it will provide when the idea was discussed.”
The Palestinian side is urging the hospital to provide chemotherapy, blood disease care and other treatments not available in Gaza. Patients who need these services must seek treatment in Israel or on the West Bank through a complex consent system. Instead, al-Hajj said it was offering services already available in Gaza, which it called “disappointment.”
Disinfecting the streets of Gaza
(Photo: EPA)
Ran Ichay, consultant for FriendShips, said in addition to the outpatient family care, the center will provide dental treatments and mental health care at this time. But he said more volunteers are expected in May and “the next steps will, we hope, be oncology and rheumatology.” He said the group plans to operate the hospital for 10 years.
Al-Hajj, the ministry official, said talks were being held, mainly through Qatari mediators, to resolve the issue but did not provide a timeline for resolution.