Journalist denied exit from Gaza for health care loses his left leg from a gunshot wound
15 April 2018 – Yousef is a 19-year-old reading Media Studies and Public Relations at Al Azhar University in Gaza.
He works as a part-time journalist, and on 30 March he decided to cover the Great Return March from east of Al Bureij refugee camp in the Middle Area of the Gaza Strip, where he grew up. Yousef’s family is originally from Al-Faluja, a village 30 kilometres east of Gaza.
“I went to the barrier to take footage of the demonstrations, and I managed to take videos and photographs for 45 minutes. I stayed further than 300 metres from the barrier, because the Israeli army had dropped leaflets from the air before the protests telling us to stay more than 300 metres from the barrier. I also wore a jacket marking me out as ‘PRESS’. I was just packing up – about 800 metres from the barrier – and I was shot in my left leg. I tried to use my tripod at that point to stand up, but I was shot again – this time in the right leg. I fell to the ground again and a friend who is also a journalist who was covering the protest ran over to help me. He was shot in the leg as well. Another friend – again a journalist – then ran over and was shot as well. The paramedics arrived to take us to the ambulance, and at that point I remember they shot tear gas at us and the air was thick with it. It even went into the ambulance. I’m told that I needed more than 30 units of blood and that I’m really lucky to be alive.”
Yousef had bullet wounds to both legs. The vascular surgeons operated successfully on Yousef’s right leg at Shifa Hospital, but they were unable to save his left leg and on 9 April he had an above-knee amputation. Yousef was referred on 1 April for specialist vascular care and follow up outside Gaza, but his application to exit was denied by Israeli authorities. Now Yousef is hoping to leave Gaza via Rafah terminal to Egypt, if this is opened in the coming days or weeks. He hopes to receive a limb prosthesis and rehabilitation services in Egypt, and travel to Egypt to receive this treatment would be expensive for his family. Yousef aims to continue his studies at the university. He is a keen photographer and at the end of the interview he admires the camera we are using:
“It’s nice! Mine is a Canon 5D Mark IV, but it’s a used one – not new like yours!”
WHO Special Situation Report occupied Palestinian territory, Gaza, 6th - 8th April 2018
Following the second mass demonstration by Palestinians on the Gaza side of the perimeter fence with Israel which took place on the 6th April 2018, 11 Palestinians were killed and 1,356 were injured by Israeli forces, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).
Out of the 1,356 injuries, 754 required immediate transfer to the MoH hospitals or to NGO hospitals (including 81 children, 24 females and 730 males). From the injuries, 35 cases are critically life threatening and 347 may result in temporary or permanent disability. The remaining 947 are unspecified.
A further 602 injuries were managed by primary healthcare centres and medical points by the MoH, Union Health Workers Committee (UHWC) NGO and by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
Since the mass demonstration began, on the 30th March, according to the MoH, a total of 30 people have been killed and 2,901 people have been injured. From this total, an accumulative 1,814 were admitted to hospitals including MoH hospitals and NGO hospitals (Al Awda Hospital and Al Quds Hospital). A further, 1,366 cases were treated at the primary healthcare facilities and medical points by the MoH UHWC and by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
The casualties occurred during the mass demonstrations by Palestinians on the Gaza site of the perimeter fence with Israel. People from all over the Gaza Strip gathered near the fence, where the Israeli army imposes a ‘No Go Zone’, to mark the Palestinian ‘Land Day’, the second of a series of mass peaceful protests leading up to the 70th anniversary of what Palestinians refer to as the 1948 ‘Nakba’, on 15 May.
For the second week in a row, mass gatherings took place across Gaza, 500-700 meters away from the perimeter fence, in 5 locations.
More details about health cluster response, immediate health priorities and unmet needs: Full Report
WHO Special Situation Report occupied Palestinian territory, Gaza, 30th March 2018
Highlights:
On the 30th March, 15 Palestinians were killed and 1,416 were injured by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).
Out of the 1,416 casualties, 1010 were severe injuries and required immediate transfer to the hospitals.
973 were male, 37 were female, and 179 were children below the age of 18.
The casualties occurred during the mass demonstrations by Palestinians on the Gaza site of the perimeter fence with Israel. People from all over the Gaza Strip gathered near the fence, where the Israeli army imposes a ‘No Go Zone’, to mark the Palestinian ‘Land Day’, the first of a series of a series of mass peaceful protests leading up to the 70th anniversary of what Palestinians refer to as the 1948 ‘Nakba’, on 15 May.
More details about health cluster response, immediate health priorities and unmet needs: Full Report
Japan supports sustainable energy for Gaza’s health sector, March 2018
occupied Palestinian territory, 29th March 2018 - Amidst the major electricity challenges to Gaza’s health sector, WHO welcomes Japan’s partnership to provide solar panels to some of the most critical and lifesaving health departments across Gaza’s major public hospitals.
Japan’s recent contribution of US $ 500,000 over the next twelve months will help to alleviate suffering for some of the most critically ill patients. “This grant has enabled WHO to offer healthcare to over 22,000 patients in need of critical healthcare services, including patients in intensive care units (ICU’s), operational theatres, emergency departments, dialysis units and neonatal intensive care units”, said Dr Gerald Rockenschaub, WHO Representative in oPt.
“Patients in these departments face a life-threatening situation when fuel supplies for the back-generators start to deplete. With funding from Japan, WHO will be able to work towards supporting fuel-preserving measures”, Dr Rockenschaub added.
The health resources are continuing to decrease in the Gaza Strip and is now in urgent need of support in critical elements, including electricity, training health professionals, medical equipment and medicines.
Mr Takeshi Okubo, Ambassador for Palestinian Affairs and Representative of Japan to Palestine, said “I’m pleased to announce to you that the Government of Japan has decided to provide a new assistance of about 40 million US dollars to Palestine for the year 2018, including WHO. With this new assistance, the total value of Japanese assistance to the Palestinian people will reach 1.86 billion US dollars since 1993.”
WHO strives to improve the health of the most vulnerable people in the oPt, and in light of the deteriorating health situation in Gaza, WHO conducted an internal assessment of the situation and increased the emergency grading from grade 1 to grade 2 in line with the Emergency Response Framework (ERF), scaling up its emergency health support across the oPt. For WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme USD $12. 5 million is needed, out of which only 12% has been secured.