US charity opens Gaza’s first cancer ward for children
New facility sponsored by Palestine Children’s Relief Fund hailed as ‘a symbol of hope’; fund says it has an agreement to allow transfer of samples to Israel, Jordan
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A US charity has inaugurated the first children’s cancer department in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
The $3 million department, sponsored by Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, will help many children avoid the difficult journey of exiting the blockaded area for treatment in Israel and the West Bank, often without an accompanying parent.
At Tuesday’s opening, it was called “a symbol of hope.”
The facility — a new floor at Gaza’s pediatric hospital — will provide chemotherapy, though bone marrow transplants and nuclear medicine won’t be available.
More photos from inside and outside the new Gaza center; we can't wait to open in just 2 days! #PCRF #Gaza pic.twitter.com/CA4r7NvVt5
— The PCRF (@ThePCRF) February 17, 2019
The fund says it has an agreement with the World Health Organization to secure free movement of samples to labs in Israel or Jordan.
Israel and Egypt have blockaded Gaza, home to 2 million people, since the Hamas terror group seized power there in 2007, which they say is necessary to prevent arms smuggling. Hamas is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state.
