Toddler dies after Isarael barred her transfer for treatment
Toddler dies in Gaza after Israel barred her transfer for treatment elsewhere
The Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) reported on Sunday that a 19-month toddler died at a local hospital in Gaza after the Israeli Authorities barred her family from transferring her to a hospital out of the Gaza Strip.
The infant was identified as Hadeel Jawad Al Haddad, underwent an open-heart surgery in Gaza but needed further medical attention out of the Gaza Strip as the ongoing Israeli siege emptied Gaza hospitals from the basic equipment and medical supplies.
There are hundreds of patients in Gaza who are facing death as Israel is rejecting their transfer to hospitals abroad, and is ongoing with blocking the border crossings and terminals.
The death of Hadeel brings the number of patients who died due to the Israeli siege to 204. Most of the patients who are currently in serious conditions are suffering from cancer, heart diseases, kidney failure and chronic diseases.
In a report release last week, the Palestinian Ministry of Heath in Gaza warned that hundreds of Palestinian patients could die if they don’t receive immediate medical treatment.
Earlier this month a Palestinian man identified as Hassan Issa, 59, died of cancer at a local Gaza hospital after he was barred from receiving medical treatment abroad. Another patient identified as Samiha Abu Jary, 50, died of a heart disease.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that there are more than 450 cancer patients in the Gaza Strip, and all are suffering due to the lack of medicine and equipment.
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Whither somalia and her refugees?
* By Iqbal Jassat
Somalia’s instability as a result of the Ethiopian invasion has had a devastating effect on Somali refugees victimized by xenophobic violence in South Africa. Boxed in as they are within makeshift tents and other forms of temporary shelters, having been driven out of their war-torn country initially, these refugees have experienced a fresh blow to their meager struggle for survival.
While much is being made about the Somali refugee issue in South Africa alongside the unfortunate evictions suffered by many of the continents other asylum seekers, not enough is relayed through the media regarding the tragedy unfolding in their motherland, in the horn of Africa.
This disconnection adds to further xenophobic and criminal attacks, for Somalis are viewed as having voluntarily chosen to seek refuge away from home. Indeed, calls to have them repatriated are symptomatic of this form of ignorance.
Abdi Samatar, professor of Global Studies at the University of Minnesota summed up the situation in Somalia as follows in a recent interview with Democracy Now:
“The Ethiopian invasion, which was sanctioned by the US government, has destroyed virtually all the life-sustaining economic systems which the population have built without the government for the last fifteen years. And the militia that are supposed to protect the population have been looting shops. For instance, the Bakara market, which is the largest market in Mogadishu, has been looted repeatedly by the militias of the so-called Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, supported by Ethiopian troops. And the new prime minister of Somalia, Mr. Hassan Nur Hussein, has himself announced in the BBC that it was his militias that – who have looted this place. So what you have is a population that’s hit from both sides – on one side, by the militias of the so-called Transitional Federal Government, which is recognized by the United States, and on the other side, by the Ethiopian invaders who seem to be bent on ensuring that they break the will of the people to resist as free people in their own country……………………………..