Wherever and whenever war breaks out, it’s people who already have additional burdens to bear in life who are the most vulnerable. They are also the least likely to have their voices heard. Just as in the Covid pandemic, people with pre-existing illnesses are often written off as if it was never going to be realistic to keep them safe. This adds to the challenges they face in day to day survival, even when they are fortunate enough to have family members committed to supporting them.
Chronic illness and the loss of medication
Hanan is 58 years old and has diabetes and high blood pressure. She also has diabetic retinopathy, a condition which affects between two thirds and three quarters of all diabetic people worldwide at some point in their lives. It’s very treatable, and before the war, regular Ivastin injections, under a doctor’s supervision, were keeping it under control. Once the conflict began in October 2023, however, medicines like Ivastin became very difficult to get hold of. Ever since – even during periods of official ceasefire – Israel has been heavily restricting medical supplies coming into Gaza.
Shortly after the outbreak of war, Hanan and her family were forced to move. “The displacement was one of the most difficult stages that we lived through, in moving from our house to a place free of shelter or any life necessities, only to escape death in a tent in Khan Younis near the sea”, explains her son, Ahmad. “The situation was very catastrophic.”
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Losing her sight – to a treatable condition
Unable to access her medication, Hanan found her illness getting worse. Ivastin had been preventing the dilation of blood vessels in her eye, and without it, she suffered more and more retinal damage, with dark spots gradually blotting out her vision. “She lost her eye”, Ahmad explains, “and now the disease is penetrating her other eye”. Every day, she is aware of her eyesight getting worse – all the while aware that a simple injection could save it.
It’s a distressing situation to be in, and Ahmad is trying to get her an urgent travel transfer so that she can leave the country and receive treatment, but these are very hard to obtain. Among other difficulties, she no longer has access to her consultant, so can’t get all the paperwork to explain her situation. “We did not know whether he was still alive, or dead by bombing”, Ahmad explains.
Without medication to control her diabetes either, Hanan faces additional risks. Ironically, it’s the near-starvation caused by the war that has thus far kept the disease from becoming life-threatening. Before the development of insulin treatment, people with diabetes had to subsist on starvation diets. Inevitably, this does other damage to the body over time, and it’s not a viable long term option.
One of the problems that starvation causes is an inability to produce a normal level of internal body heat. Hanan is very vulnerable to the cold. It’s winter in Gaza, with temperatures dropping as low as 8°c at night – not as cold as Scotland, perhaps, but easily cold enough to be dangerous. She has only a thin tent to shelter in, made from curtains and pieces of fabric, and it doesn’t keep out the rain. Life is a constant struggle, and her whole family has been emotionally exhausted by it.
Palestinians are denied control of their future
Recent days have seen the establishment of a so-called ‘Board of Peace’ to oversee life in Gaza. Promises of help for civilians have accompanied this, but the family does not hold out much hope at present, says Ahmad, “It is forbidden to bring in even a single stone or a single bag of cement”, making rebuilding impossible. Third sector organisations like Doctors Without Borders have been banned from operating there, and no other help has materialised.
While Donald Trump, Tony Blair and Benjamin Netanyahu make bold plans for the region’s future, displaced people continue to suffer in the camps, and Hanan fears that she will go completely blind. Ahmad is not investing any hope in the new board, saying “It’s an illusion and a lie to the world, so that everyone will forget us.”
If you would like to help Hanan, you can do so through her family’s fundraiser.
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