Sabreen Bashir Mohammed Okal (27) with her
daughers Malak (6) and Raghad (9)
“I was 5 months pregnant with my son when I noticed
that something was growing in my upper right arm. I went to the hospital, where
they told me it had to be removed. A part of it was removed and tested. It turned
out to be cancer”, says Sabreen Okal (27), sitting down on a plastic stool in
her modest home in Jabaliya refugee camp. Sabreen is a mother of 5 children, 4
girls and 1 boy.
She continues: “The tumour was removed from my arm
through surgery, after which I had to go through 6 chemotherapy treatments. I
was very sick during the treatment and was unable to eat for 10 days. I’m still
not able to use my right arm fully, as the nerves around the wound are still
healing.”
Despite treatment, the cancer returned and Sabreen
underwent another surgery last October to remove the tumour from her arm. She
says: “My doctor told me that I also need to undergo radiation therapy in a
specialized hospital in Jerusalem. He explained that tumours will spread
throughout my body if I don’t have radiation therapy. He prepared the necessary
paperwork for me so that I could go to a specialized hospital in Jerusalem for
this treatment on 20 December.”
In order to travel from Gaza to the hospital in
Jerusalem, Sabreen and her mother-in-law, who is due to accompany her, need to
cross through the Israeli-controlled Erez border crossing. “I was told that,
according to standard procedure, I had to go for an interview with the Israeli intelligence
service before passing through Erez. When I arrived at the crossing on 20
December, they first had me wait in a room for 3 hours. Then I was questioned
about issues that have nothing to do with my illness. They asked me if my
husband was affiliated with Hamas. After the investigation, they put me in a
small room for 3 more hours before they sent me back home. They didn’t allow me
to go to the hospital and I don’t understand why.”
On 7 January, PCHR sent a letter to the Israeli
authorities operating the Erez crossing, requesting that Sabreen’s application
be reconsidered. Two weeks later, the border officials responded saying that
they would look into Sabreen’s file. To date, Sabreen has not received
permission to cross the border to reach the hospital.
It is impossible for Sabreen to understand why she is
being denied life-saving access to medical care: “What I need in order to
survive is the radiation treatment, yet I am being denied such treatment. Can
you tell me why I’m not allowed to go to the hospital? Regardless of my
nationality and religion, I should be seen as a human being, as a patient who
needs treatment. Cancer can happen to anyone. If the soldier in the border, who
bars my way to the hospital, had cancer, or one of his relatives did, he
wouldn’t let a minute pass before taking action. I have been waiting for 2
months now.”
While she is being told to wait, Sabreen can feel the
cancer grow inside her body. “I have pain in my arm. I feel that my body is not
the same as before.” Showing a bump on her hand, she says: “I can feel there is
cancer growing here. This disease I have is dangerous. I cannot wait, you can
see that. You know what will happen to me eventually. Who will take care of my
children? Who will raise them?”
As days pass, Sabreen’s despair grows. “I feel
psychologically exhausted. All I am being told is that I have to wait. But for how
long do I have to wait? This is inhuman. I’m afraid something will happen to
me.” Having experienced the danger of cancer in her past, Sabreen worries about
what could happen to her. Her brother died of cancer when he was 17 years old.
Due to her dire financial situation, Sabreen cannot
afford to travel abroad, for example to Egypt, for medical treatment. “My
husband is a construction worker, whose salary is insufficient and uncertain.
We don’t have money for anything. The rooms of this house are empty. The ceilings
are leaking, and the refrigerator was a gift from a charity organization. The
hospital in Jerusalem is my only option.”
When two of her daughters (Raghad, 9, and Malak, 6)
come home from school, Sabreen talks with motherly pride about how well her
girls are doing in school. “The teachers always tell me how clever they are. They
are doing well in all the classes and make me very proud of them. They started
saying their first words when they were 9 months old.”
Sabreen tries to protect her children from the harsh
reality of her illness. “I try to live my life as normally as I can and I tell
my daughters that I’m not ill. One day, my 6-year old daughter Malak came home
from school crying. Someone had told her that I have cancer and needed to go to
Jerusalem for treatment. She still asks me about it, but I tell her that I am
doing fine. My children are too young to understand what cancer is.”
“I pray for Allah to give us patience, and give us our
lives back. I want to live my life normally, and be able to raise my children.”
Since June 2007, when the closure of Gaza became
near-absolute, 64 patients have died as a result of being denied the
possibility to leave Gaza for medical treatment, or because of the lack in
medicines caused to the closure. Among those who died, there were 18 women and
16 children. On a monthly basis, PCHR assists on average 23 patients in their
application for a travel permit, facing many delays, rejections, and other
obstacles.
As the occupying power, Israel has an obligation under
Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural
Rights, which recognizes everyone’s “right to the enjoyment of the highest
attainable standard of physical and mental health.” As a result of the
protracted illegal closure of the Gaza Strip, the local healthcare system
suffers from chronical shortages in medical supplies and treatment facilities.
The Israeli-imposed closure of the Gaza Strip amounts to a form of collective
punishment, which is a violation of article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
As it inflicts great suffering on the civilian population of Gaza, it also
amounts to a war crime, for which the Israeli political and military leadership
bear individual criminal responsibility.
Sabreen’s
daughters (left to right): Malak (6), Mayar (2), and Raghad (9)
