Cancer on rise in Gaza due to Israel war

Gaza has witnessed a surge in the number of cancer patients as the Israeli regime’s use of banned weapons during the 22-day war in 2008-2009 continues to take its toll on the coastal enclave, Press TV reports.

“We have noticed an increase in the number of deformed babies after the war as well as a sharp increase in the number of cancer patients, especially among children and women,” Ayman Sahabani, a doctor at al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip, told Press TV.

“The types of injuries during the Israeli bombings all showed that the weapons used were internationally banned and unconventional,” he added.

Norwegian doctors who volunteered in hospitals during the Israeli onslaught said some victims had traces of depleted uranium in their bodies.

According to reports, cancer cases usually emerge among the Gazans who lived in the areas that were heavily bombarded by the Israeli military during the deadly war.

“The area where I used to live was heavily bombarded in the war. About two years later, I started to have headaches and partially lost my eyesight. I was diagnosed with cancer,” said Samaher Ehlayer, a cancer patient.

Reports further indicated that nearly 30 percent of the agricultural land located in the eastern Gaza Strip also sustained heavy bombings during the Israeli war.

The 22-day Israeli war on Gaza took the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, in the populated coastal strip and left thousands more injured. It also inflicted over USD 1.6 billion in damages on the territory’s economy.

Human rights groups have accused the Israeli regime of using Gaza as a testing ground for their weapons.