THE TELEGRAPH: Aid blockades and Israeli evacuation restrictions leave Gazans stranded with inadequate healthcare
Minutes after Najat al-Loh learnt that the 7cm lump in her right breast was cancer, her oldest son Atta died from wounds sustained in an Israeli bombardment.
“As I stood there talking to the doctor, I received the news,” she said. “I collapsed entirely, not just emotionally but physically. My daughter was screaming.”
Nine months on, the 48-year-old now has five more lumps across her chest and under her arms, some the size of tennis balls.
Her face is riven with exhaustion and despair as she hands over the chaotic bundle of medical papers to Khaleel, her 13-year-old son, to see whether he can make sense of them.
The war in Gaza ended just a few weeks after her diagnosis on Aug 17, thanks to Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan that promised to flood the benighted strip with food, medicine and life-saving equipment.
Yet in that time, Ms Loh has had access to only the most rudimentary cancer care, allowing the disease to spread far beyond the point of a cure.
She is one of an estimated 13,000 cancer patients who are trapped in a territory with virtually no specialist services left and – save for a lucky few – unable to leave to get the treatment they need.
Both Israeli blockades, which started in the early 1990s but intensified after the war in Gaza started in 2023, and foot-dragging by other countries, including Britain, are responsible.
With Hamas refusing to hand over its weapons, Israel is reportedly contemplating tightening aid deliveries further and US attention diverted by Iran, the situation seems likely to worsen. » | Henry Bodkin Jerusalem Correspondent. Nedal Hamdouna in Gaza | Sunday, May 31, 2026
If this isn't CRUELTY, what is? And we ALL know WHO is RESPONSIBLE for it! — © Mark Alexander
