Only 12 wounded Palestinians arrive to Egypt for treatment despite govt publicizing hospital preparations

Eight Palestinians injured in Israel's 12-day bombing campaign of the besieged Gaza Strip crossed into Egypt through the Rafah crossing on Wednesday, medical sources told Mada Masr. 

Despite the Egyptian government’s announcement at the beginning of the week that it had sent medical teams and increased supplies to three hospitals in North Sinai and prepared nine hospitals in Ismailia and Cairo to receive Palestinians injured in Gaza — where Israel's airstrikes have left 232 dead and 1,900 injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in the strip — only 12 injured Palestinians have arrived in Egypt since Sunday. 

Two Palestinians are receiving treatment at the Nasser Institute Hospital in Cairo and ten others are receiving treatment in Arish General Hospital in the North Sinai capital, according to one of the medical sources who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity. 

The Rafah crossing has been open since Sunday, after a brief closure for the Eid holiday. According to a source at the crossing, 1,080 people have passed from Gaza to Egypt in that time period. 

Press teams working to cover the treatment wounded Gazans are receiving in Egypt have been met with abuse, according to two journalists from North Sinai who spoke to Mada Masr. 

Mohamed Abdel Azeem, a reporter with the privately owned Veto news platform, told Mada Masr that local reporters assembled at Arish General Hospital on Wednesday as the injured Palestinians arrived were dissuaded from filming by doctors and hospital administrators. When journalists did not disperse, a member of the hospital’s administration and security staff assaulted Abdel Azeem and other journalists, with one hospital staff member threatening to seize a journalist’s mobile phone. The scuffle was dispersed by security forces stationed at the hospital.

Abdel Azeem told Mada Masr that a similar scene unfolded on Monday and Tuesday, with hospital staff trying to prevent journalists from covering the arrival of injured Palestinians. 

The slow flow of injured people from Gaza comes as the Health Ministry announced it is preparing a second deployment of medical staff to be sent to North Sinai hospitals to treat Gaza’s injured. 

Gaza’s fragile healthcare system — overwhelmed by casualties from the airstrikes, the years-long blockade as well as the pandemic — has been brought to the brink after Israeli strikes damaged at least 18 hospitals and clinics and entirely destroyed another health facility, according to a World Health Organization report cited by the Associated Press. The only COVID-19 testing lab in the strip was forced to shutter earlier this week after it was damaged in an airstrike.

At the same time, the number of people displaced inside Gaza as a result of the Israeli attacks increased to 72,000–47,000 of whom took refuge in UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees schools, while 25,000 stayed with other families inside the strip, according to UNRWA, amid fears that COVID-19 will spread due to overcrowding.

The eruption of Israeli airstrikes targeting Gaza came after tensions rose in Jerusalem over Israeli government plans to forcibly displace Palestinian residents from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah area and the Israeli forces’ attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque during prayer time. Spontaneous protests spread across historic Palestine in response, culminating in a general strike on Tuesday, while the armed resistance in Gaza launched a barrage of rockets targeting Israeli cities and key infrastructure from oil pipelines to airports. Israel has responded with a bombing campaign that has killed and wounded hundreds of Gazans.