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WHO in occupied Palestinian territory
Strengthening protection of health care in the occupied Palestinian territory
23 June 2023 – WHO conducted two workshops in Ramallah, West Bank, and Gaza City on strengthening protection of health care against attacks and barriers to access in the context of occupation. WHO has documented increased attacks on health care in the West Bank, with the surge in incursions and violence in 2023. From January to the end of May...
WHO event in Gaza to mobilize action on barriers to the Right to Health in the occupied Palestinian territory
6 June 2023, WHO held an event in Gaza to engage partners on mobilizing action to address the key findings and recommendations of two reports on the Right to Health: Barriers to Health Access and Attacks on Health Care 2019 to 2021 and Palestinian Voices 2022 to 2023. Opening remarks were delivered by Dr Yousef Abu Rish, Deputy Minister of...
Palestinian Voices 2022 - 2023
Gaza Health Access West Bank Health Access Health Attacks Gaza Health Access Throughout the year, WHO continued to document the impact of barriers to health access on the Palestinian people in Gaza. Below are three of the cases documented from 2022 to 2023: Download Khalid He is a patient and has the same right as any person who wants to get...
WHO trains paramedics from the West Bank and East Jerusalem in basic pre-hospital trauma care
17 May 2023 - WHO trained 25 Palestine Medical Relief Society paramedics from the West Bank and East Jerusalem in pre-hospital trauma care during a four-day workshop, which aimed to refresh their skills and teach new techniques for stabilizing patients in emergencies and mass-casualty incidents. Participants The course delivered during the...
Dr Shadi “I call on international organizations to give us protection. Doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians and ambulances. We live under occupation, and we are exposed to the violence of occupation every day.”
17 August 2023 – On 26 February, Israeli settlers raided Huwara village near Nablus, in the north of the West Bank. Shadi, a doctor working in emergency medicine at Huwara Emergency Medical Centre, spoke about his experience on that day. “Our team from Huwara Emergency Medical Centre was prevented from accessing. I wasn’t on duty when it all...
Abed “When they started shooting towards me, I felt helpless. I had the capacity to help – at least to stop his bleeding until we got him to hospital. I knew there were other injuries as well, but I couldn’t reach them…”
Abed, a 28-year-old paramedic officer working with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, (PMRS) woke at around 5am on 3 January 2023 to the sound of Israeli forces raiding Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. “I heard loud voices near my house. I got dressed and put on my paramedic gear. As I tried to leave my house, heavy shooting toward me...
Hamzeh “Around five metres before reaching the guy, I was shot in the right side of my upper body. I went back around two meters and fell to the ground. I told the other paramedics that I had been shot".
27-year-old Hamzeh Abu Hajar is a volunteer paramedic with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS). In 2022, with increasing escalations across the West Bank, Hamzeh began volunteering as a PMRS first responder. “Every time the Israeli forces would raid Nablus Old City, I would join the field team. PMRS cars would drive us to different...
Ali “When I responded that I wanted to see what he was doing, the soldier got out of the vehicle and started pushing me and kicking me, hitting me with the back of his gun and causing me to fall to the ground.” Ali (pseudonym)
On 2 October 2022, a Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulance crew travelled to Beit Furik near Nablus, to provide first aid to persons injured during demonstrations against settlement expansion and incursions in the village, which is in the north of the West Bank. Ali was driving the ambulance, while his colleague Omar1 sat beside him....
Muhannad “For two days I couldn’t reach work. I would leave my house on foot wearing my paramedic uniform and go to the checkpoint, but the soldiers wouldn’t let me pass.” Muhannad
From 8 to 11 October, Israel enforced a near-complete closure of Shu’fat refugee camp and adjacent areas of Anata. The area, home to refugees and non-refugees in east Jerusalem, is surrounded by Israel’s separation barrier, which takes the form of an 8- to 9-metre-high concrete wall enclosing the camp. In addition to the existing checkpoint west of the...
Moaayd “These communities face a lot of violations… We should be providing health services at least three times a week, but we cover communities in three districts of the Jordan Valley and there is only so much we can do.” Moaayd
Moaayd is the driver of a mobile clinic for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) operating in the Jordan Valley of the West Bank. He has been part of the team for 10 years, working with communities in remote areas that depend on mobile clinics for access to primary health care. The communities face obstacles to planning and development,...
