Despite the closure on Gaza and the violence raging on its borders, a small hospital in Israel -- just beyond rocket range -- offers a ray of hope for a handful of seriously ill Gazans, courtesy of Israeli physicians. "This child would have died without surgery," said Dr Alona Raucher-Sternfeld, as she simultaneously looked at the small Palestinian baby, Jamal, and the heart monitor.
Six-month-old Jamal came with his grandmother, Haifa, from the Dir al-Balah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip to get a check-up on 15 January at the Wolfson medical center in Holon, south of Tel Aviv. Jamal suffered from two heart defects, and had to be operated on at the age of two months. His tiny size further complicated the surgery, but it was ultimately successful, the doctor said. "When he came here, he was blue. It was an emergency," Raucher-Sternfeld said.
The surgery, hospital stay and logistics in bringing him out of Gaza were coordinated and partially funded by Save a Child's Heart, an Israeli humanitarian organisation, with strong American Jewish backing and some European Union donations. In 2007, 128 Palestinian children from the West Bank and Gaza, all suffering from heart conditions, were treated by the program and the hospital.
Getting the child out of Gaza these days is difficult. Jamal's 24-year-old mother is too young to be allowed out, according to Israeli security regulations, so the grandmother was sent as an escort instead. Col Nir Press, head of the Israeli coordination and liaison administration in Gaza, recently said Israel requires rigid security rules, as Palestinian terrorists have, in the past, taken advantage of permits issued for medical reasons to carry out bombings. In 2004, for example, four Israeli soldiers at the Erez crossing were killed when a Palestinian patient blew herself up inside the terminal.
Press also said the number of permits to Israel issued for medical reasons had risen 50 percent in 2007 compared to the previous year. Some foreign aid workers said this was a result of the closure of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which has forced more medical cases into Israel, which is more considerate of humanitarian requests.
Volunteers from Save a Child's Heart stressed the apolitical nature of their programme. "If there's an Israeli child and a Palestinian child, whoever is in a more dire condition will get treatment first," said a hospital nurse.
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