Dina Zuhair ‘Amer Hiji (35), from al-Shati’ refugee camp in Gaza City, said to PCHR’s fieldworker:

In September 2024, a month before the war, my mother, Amal Yousif Isma’il Ayoub (67), from al-Shati’ refugee camp in western Gaza City, was very sick and had low blood cell count of 6 that caused her bleeding. When the symptoms went worse, she went to an internist who examined her and asked for additional tests that showed she had a tumor in her colon and liver.  Afterwards, she went to al-Shifa Hospital and in September she was admitted to the Hospital 3 times, each time was for a week. And due to her health condition, the hospital referred her to the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital so she would be under the doctor’s follow-up.

Her first appointment at the Turkish Hospital was on Monday, 09 October 2023, but she could not start her treatment because the war erupted on Saturday, 07 October 2023.

During the war, we went to al-Shifa Hospital, where doctors said that she should go to the south as her treatment was not available there.  My mom started feeling very tired and was not able to move or sit, so my sister and I decided to go with her to the central Gaza Strip, particularly Deir al-Balah, to seek treatment for her while the rest of our family, including my father, stayed in al-Shati’ refugee camp in Gaza City.

On 09 November, I evacuated with my sister and mother to Deir al-Balah searching for doctors and treatment, we went to many doctors but all of them were saying that there was no treatment available for her and she should wait until the war ends.

My mother needed from time to time a saline flush and took painkillers due to her high creatinine levels because of cancer.  We went to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where doctors refused to receive her or give her any treatment because the hospital was taking emergency cases only.  They told us that we could go to Dar al-Salam Hospital in Khan Younis, where there was treatment for cancer.

Afterwards, we went to Dar al-Salam Hospital in Khan Younis because the pain severely increased in her back that made her unable to sleep or sit. She was constantly saying describing her pain, “like if someone is hitting me with a stick all over my body.” Doctors said that cancer had spread to her lungs and other areas in her body.  She had breathing difficulty and needed tests, which were not available because Dar al-Salam Hospital was not equipped with medical devices or treatment for cancer patients.  The pain was worse at night, so she started taking painkillers like Trufin and Tramadol, but in vain because the pain was more intense than the efficacy of painkillers.

When the pain increased, they would give her painkillers which would only relieve the pain for the day.  After 24 hours of staying at the hospital, she was discharged and doctors prescribed her several painkillers to take 4 pills of each one so she could cope with the pain.  Getting and buying those prescribed painkillers was very hard as they were not available at pharmacies and we would go to some traders and pay 40 shekels for one pill.

After several desperate attempts, we could get her a medical referral from Dar al-Salam Hospital to travel for treatment in the United Arab Emirates.  Her case was very urgent as she needed an urgent colon surgery.

My mother waited so long to have her name on the travel lists for treatment in the UAE. And because I had no access to internet and due to the electricity outage and poor communications network, I was going every day on foot from 08:00 am to the administration building in al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to check whether her name was on the travel lists or not. I sent many appeals via TV channels, Whatsapp and Facebook, but in vain.  I contacted friends and relatives in the UAE to go to the hospital and expedite the procedures but this went in vain as well.  Meanwhile, the hospital would always tell me that they had nothing to do and it was only relevant to the Israel authorities measures.

What we could only do was to wait until IOF launched their ground invasion into Khan Younis and we could not go to Dar al-Salam Hospital anymore after hospitals were being targeted by IOF.  We went to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where we found doctors who used to work in the Turkish Hospital. There were also medicines at the hospital and doctors gave her medicines for free upon her medical case.

My mother’s health was getting worse day by day and symptoms became more intense, she had fever and was vomiting.  Her pains were unbearable and she was screaming all the time from her chest and back pains.  And when we were asking doctors what to do, they would say she would stay like that until she drew her last breath.

My mother needed certain types of food, which were rarely found in the markets due to the ongoing war.  And when we could find it, it would be very expensive.  We were cooking her food on fire and when we offered her some, she would vomit and could not eat because of her disease complications.  She was asking for fruits but they were not available in the markets and when found they were very expensive.  The last thing she asked for was grape, but we could not find it in the market and she died before she could eat it.

I cannot describe how hard was the pain and the complications she experienced.  While waiting to travel for treatment abroad, my mother was afraid to sleep at night because she thought she would die, so she would not let us sleep and we would stay up all night with her.  I was telling her to describe me her pain but she said she could not as every single part of her body hurt her.  She was in unbearable pains and did not know what was exactly hurting her in her body.

On 21 January 2024, we took her to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where she went into coma for 3 days and doctors said she was dying.  We asked them to let us stay in the hospital because my sister and I were all alone without any family members.

My mother died on 24 January 2024 for not allowing her to travel amid lack of medicines or hospitals for cancer patients.  My mother was supposed to travel for treatment abroad but due to the slow referral procedures and Israeli obstruction of patients’ travel, my mother could not travel for treatment and died.