JERUSALEM, March 23, 2017 (WAFA) - Ahmed Shbair, a 17-year-old Gaza boy with a congenital heart condition, died in Gaza on January 14 following his inability to obtain an Israel permit to travel for urgent surgery in Israel where he had been receiving care, a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

It said in its monthly report on referral of Gaza patients for treatment outside the besieged Gaza Strip, WHO said Shbair’s family had applied four times for a permit since November 3 and both he and his mother were interrogated by Israeli security services as a condition of the request.

Two requests were denied and his third request went unanswered.

After losing three previous hospital dates without receiving a permit, Shbair made a new hospital appointment and applied a fourth time in January.

However, his condition deteriorated suddenly in the early morning of January 14, and he had difficulty breathing. His family brought him to Shifa hospital emergency department in Gaza City but he died soon after.

“Ahmed had been keen to graduate from secondary school in June 2017,” said his father.

The WHO report said more than half of the patients who applied in January for Israeli army permit to leave Gaza through Beit Hanoun (Erez) checkpoint for treatment in Israeli, East Jerusalem or West Bank hospitals were denied or delayed permits.

Of 2,792 patient applications, only 47% were approved, 98  patients (3.51%) were denied permits, among them six children less than 18 and 8 persons over 60 years, and 1,383 (49.53%) received no response including 320 children and 92 people over 60.

In addition, 61.4% of patients’ companions were denied or delayed permits.

The report said 35 patients (24 males and 11 females) including two children were requested by the Israeli General Security Services for interviews at Erez during January. Only eight were approved.

M.K.