SAFA- Dozens of Palestinian patients and wounded people protested inside Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, urging the international community to pressure the Israeli occupation to reopen Gaza’s crossings and enable those in need of specialized care to leave the Strip for treatment abroad.

The protesters said the number of patients permitted to leave the Gaza Strip for medical care had declined, even as the number of people requiring specialized treatment and rehabilitation continued to rise.

Many participants said they were enduring severe health and humanitarian conditions, particularly people with disabilities, amputations, and complex injuries requiring treatment and rehabilitation unavailable in Gaza.

They said continued Israeli restrictions on the crossings had deprived them of potentially life-saving medical care and compounded their suffering.

Wounded Palestinian Mahmoud Abdel Nabi, who participated in the protest, said patients and wounded people had been demanding access to treatment and their basic rights for nearly four months without seeing their demands addressed.

He said the protesters had decided to stop describing their suffering in words and instead let their injuries speak for them.

“We cannot walk, move, or deal with anything,” Abdel Nabi told Felesteen newspaper, saying the protest was intended to draw attention to the physical suffering of wounded Palestinians and the urgent need for treatment.

In a symbolic gesture, Abdel Nabi attended the protest wearing a burial shroud. He said the gesture was meant to highlight the “burial of our rights,” accusing Israeli authorities and the World Health Organization of failing to respond to patients’ demands for access to medical care and their rights to equality and life.

“Today, we have decided that we either exist or we do not,” he said, expressing frustration over the marginalization of wounded Palestinians and broader international neglect of their situation.

Mukhtar Abu al-Abed Abu al-Aneen said the protest had continued for four months and included wounded Palestinians, children with amputations, and patients suffering from serious illnesses.

He said that some protesters had obtained permits for medical treatment outside Gaza and completed the procedures required to travel.

However, he said Israeli restrictions at the crossings had prevented them from leaving the Strip.

The protesters called for international pressure on Israeli authorities to facilitate the movement of patients and wounded Palestinians requiring treatment outside Gaza and to expedite medical referral procedures.

They stressed that for critically ill patients, delays can be decisive, reducing their chances of receiving timely treatment and recovery.

The protest comes as Gaza’s healthcare system continues to operate under severe pressure, leaving patients with complex medical conditions increasingly dependent on treatment outside the Strip amid limited medical capacity and shortages of specialized services inside Gaza amid the suffocating Israeli siege on Gaza.