Palestinian Gaza Patients Face Forced Deportation Amid Healthcare Crisis

Jerusalem – amid conflicts surrounding the evacuation of sick Palestinians from Gaza and their possible return home, disputes continue among patients, hospitals, and international organizations.

Yamen al-Najjar recalls his past – the days when he went to school and laughed. Today the 16-year-old lives with his mother in a cramped six-square-meter room that is only large enough for a hospital bed from which he rarely leaves.

“Life is hard. I am sick and constantly in pain… I feel lonely and I miss home.”

Yamen, who suffers from a circulatory disorder, was medically evacuated from Gaza City along with his mother to a Palestinian hospital in occupied East Jerusalem two days before the attack on October 7, 2023.

According to his mother, Haifa al-Najjar, and her doctors, his condition is rare, and they struggle to manage his symptoms even in East Jerusalem.

Al-Najjar has been trying for two years to move his son to a third country for further treatment. She has received approval from the World Health Organization (WHO) for a medical transfer, but for 14 months she has been seeking a host country to accept the patient.

“All my efforts will disappear right before my eyes. I cannot imagine sending a sick child back to a shattered area… This is a death sentence for my son.”

Yamen and his mother are among at least 89 Palestinians from Gaza and their companions who are subject to deportation according to medical brigades at Makassed Hospital and Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem. Although some patients agreed to return to Gaza, most are being forcibly evacuated – because there is not adequate treatment there. The World Health Organization last month said that 94% of hospitals in the region are damaged or destroyed.

The youngest of the deported are infants born in Jerusalem for treatment, and the oldest patient is 85 years old. Most of them have been in the city since before the war.

Salva Massad, head of the research division at WHO, told CNN that the organization had been asked by the government’s CoGAT (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories) military operations coordinator to facilitate the transfer of patients at the start of next week.

CNN contacted CoGAT about a possible deportation of sick Palestinians to Gaza, but no response has yet been received.

“A probable deportation of sick patients to Gaza under current conditions would be a deadly blow; instead of dying from an airstrike, he would die from the lack of medical treatment.”

A well-informed pensioner representative from Khan Younis, Nabef al-Kahwaji, told CNN that he has kidney failure and needs dialysis three times a week. He stated: “Yesterday the hospital told us that all of us would be deported back to Gaza; I was shocked to learn about the inhumane conditions in which patients live.” – Makassed Hospital.

“Yesterday the hospital told us that all of us would be deported back to Gaza. I was shocked to learn about the inhumane conditions that exist in Gaza.”

Nael Ezzeddin from Jabalya did not object to returning. He has a heart condition and has been at Makassed Hospital for 25 months. According to him, his house in Gaza was destroyed by Israeli forces; he has lost everything, but relatives are waiting for him at home.

“I miss my family. I have 10 children and a wife – they are all scattered in a tent in Deir al-Balah. I want to go there to be with them. I know how they suffer, but what can I do here?”

This is not the first time sick patients from Gaza face such threats. In March 2024, Israeli authorities planned to return 22 Palestinians from East Jerusalem to Gaza, including infants and cancer patients. The Israeli Supreme Court temporarily halted these plans following a PHRI appeal and CNN reporting on patients in hospitals.

Most of Yamen’s works are vibrant images of nature, landscapes, and Palestinian culture. According to him, his passion for art stems from a desire to “bring colors back to a world that has grown gray.”

“I miss home, the voices of my brothers and sisters, the school, the colors, and the sea. I miss the toys I collected in childhood, and every moment when Gaza was safe.”

Yamen also shared his dreams: “I’ve suffered a lot and just want to rest… I hope every child in Gaza will live as any child in the world… I don’t want any child to be sick or feel fear, as I do.”