At least five Palestinian cancer patients died last year due to Israel’s restrictions on mobility, widely deemed by rights organisations as illegal.
Qatar is providing free medical services to Palestinian athletes under a new memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed between Qatari and Palestinian entities on Tuesday.
The Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics in Gaza, funded by the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), and the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports inked the MoU with the aim of developing sports medicine in the besieged city.
The MoU will provide free medical services to the players of Palestinian national teams and clubs through clinics at the Qatar-funded hospital. The Qatari and Palestinian entities will also work on training programmes in the fields of sports medicine, physiotherapy and nursing.
The key memorandum comes under Qatar’s ongoing efforts to support various sectors in Palestine.
Qatar had inaugurated the Hamad Hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip in 2019, becoming the first prosthetic hospital to open in the Palestinian city.
The medical entity was named after Qatar’s Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and stands as one of the Gulf state’s most notable contributions to health globally.
The hospital includes a disability rehab centre, providing easy access to Palestinians in Gaza who struggle to receive treatment in the rest of Palestine.
At the time of its inauguration, more than 100 Palestinians had to undergo amputations after getting shot by Israeli forces during the Great March of Return.
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) had opened fire on Palestinians during the 2019 mass protests, which saw the indigenous population demand their right to return to their ancestors’ homes after their forced expulsion in 1948.
The IOF killed 214 Palestinians, including 46 children, while injuring more than 36,100 others at the time. Amputations were required in 156 of the limb injuries, out of which 94 cases involved secondary amputations.
Residents of Gaza also struggle to obtain movement permits to access treatment in Jerusalem and the West Bank due to the ongoing illegal blockade on the city by Israel since 2007, which created what is widely known as “the world’s largest open air prison”.
At least five Palestinian cancer patients died last year due to Israel’s restrictions on mobility, widely deemed by rights organisations as illegal.
Sports apartheid
Meanwhile, Israel continues to prevent Palestinian athletes from enjoying their basic rights to sports, blocking them from participating in tournaments locally and globally while subjecting them to violent attacks.
Under Israel’s system of apartheid, Palestinian athletes cannot freely move between Gaza and the West Bank due to the many military checkpoints and barriers.
The movement restrictions imposed by the Israeli regime force Palestinian sporting bodies to organise separate tournaments in Gaza and the West Bank, despite their full right to free mobility.
Israel also prevents football equipment from being imported and the development of sports infrastructures while allowing its own teams to freely access stadiums.
