The reason? The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah refused to pay for his treatment.
Al-Taweel had brain cancer.
Louay's family managed to get him to the Augusta Victoria Hospital, an Arab hospital in Jerusalem, a month ago. Doctors there refused to treat him without payment, and the PA refused to pay. The family had to pay 120 shekels just to get them to do a checkup and open a file on the boy.
They were then sent back to Gaza and told to arrange the funding before returning. Upon his return home, Louay's condition deteriorated and he was admitted to one Gaza hospital, transferred to another, then a third, until he died. He was buried on Tuesday.
There are lots of NGOs that track every Gaza patient that may not get permits from Israel, hoping that the patients die so they can add one more thing to blame on Israel. But here, Israel clearly gave a permit for young Louay to get treatment. It was the Palestinian Authority that decided not to pay, sentencing the teen to death. It is one of many such decisions by the Palestinian Authority to inflict collective punishment on Gaza residents because of its rivalry with Hamas.
