Fear, hunger, and running out of medicine…a trinity threatening people with chronic diseases in Jabalia

Mark
Written By Mark

About a week ago, treatment for diabetes was interrupted for the elderly Palestinian besieged in Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, Muhammad Odeh, who has been suffering from this chronic disease for more than 30 years.

Before the Israeli military operation that targeted the camp and its surroundings about two weeks ago, the sixty-year-old man was periodically receiving treatment from one of the health centers spread inside the camp.

With the start of the military operation, all health centers and medical points in that area, which were providing first aid services and taking care of chronic disease cases and providing them with appropriate treatment on a regular basis, stopped working.

Speaking to Anadolu, Odeh said: The interruption of treatment has worsened my health and psychological condition, and I am very worried about the coming days if I am unable to obtain medicine, calling on international health authorities to intervene urgently and provide medicines for chronic diseases.

He added that he was taking medication twice a day to maintain his blood sugar level so that he would not experience fainting spells and general body weakness.

On October 6, the Israeli army announced the start of its invasion of the northern Gaza Strip under the pretext of preventing Hamas from regaining its power in the region, while the Palestinians say that Israel wants to occupy the region and displace its residents.

According to the World Health Organization, about 350,000 people with chronic diseases live in the Gaza Strip.

The organization says that the lack of basic medicines and the closure of health facilities lead to a threat to 52,000 people with diabetes, 45,000 people with asthma, 45,000 people with cardiovascular diseases, and 225,000 people with high blood pressure.

Life threatened

During his talk to Anadolu Agency, Odeh continued that since the interruption of treatment, he often felt like he was about to faint, and his movement became limited for fear of falling to the ground and feeling unbalanced.

He called on international health authorities to intervene urgently and introduce treatments for chronic diseases and enable patients to receive them through medical points spread throughout the northern Gaza Strip.

Another health tragedy is experienced by the elderly Palestinian woman, Amal Al-Shanbari, who is displaced in one of the shelters in the Beit Lahia project area in the northern Gaza Strip, and who has been suffering from the Israeli siege for 14 days.

Ahmed, the elderly woman’s virgin son, told Anadolu Agency: My mother always suffers from a disorder in her blood pressure, and this is a chronic disease for which she has been receiving treatment for many years. Before the last military operation, I had great difficulty obtaining treatment for my mother, and after the operation it became almost impossible because all medical points and health centers were closed, as were commercial pharmacies.

He pointed out in his speech that the hospitals that are now operating in the northern Gaza Strip are only the three major hospitals (Kamal Adwan, the Indonesian, and Al-Awda), and they provide their services for emergency cases only and do not provide services for those with chronic diseases.

Al-Shinbari warned that continuing to deprive his mother of her treatment threatens her life, especially with the food shortage experienced by those besieged in the northern Gaza Strip and the polluted water they are forced to drink.

Fear, hunger, and running out of medicine

Unlike Muhammad Odeh and Amal, Palestinian Tayseer Al-Madhoun also suffers from chronic diseases, most notably diabetes and blood pressure, and is still besieged in Jabalia camp as the military operation continues.

He told the Anatolia correspondent: We suffer from a severe food shortage, we drink polluted water, and there is no medicine for the diseases that I suffer from.

He pointed out that with the lack of food and medicine, he began to feel that he was losing some of his health and strength every minute.

Al-Madhoun confirmed that most of the medications he had had run out and he had not taken any of them for days, which indicates a serious threat to his health, and he began to feel the same a few days ago.

He continues, “In a normal situation, the lack of medicine for one day would keep me in bed for days. So what would the situation be like in this situation where fear and hunger dominate!

Al-Madhoun called on institutions concerned with treating chronic disease cases to intervene immediately to save his life and the lives of hundreds of patients trapped in the Jabalia region and its surroundings before it is too late.

For two weeks, the Israeli army has continued the siege and starvation in the northern Gaza Strip, especially in the town of Jabalia and its camp, where it imposes a stifling siege and starvation, under continuous bloody bombardment and blowing up homes over the heads of their residents.

This is the third ground operation carried out by the Israeli army in Jabalia camp since the beginning of the Israeli aggression against Gaza on October 7, 2023.