Between Tent Walls and Travel Waiting Lists: A Rare Disease Besieges Displaced Woman Amal Nabhan

Amal Nabhan (57), displaced in Khan Younis, suffers from a rare vocal cord disease (pemphigus) that worsened after treatment was cut off due to the war. She lost her husband and son during the war, lives in a tent under harsh conditions, and has been waiting for over a year for permission to travel for treatment outside Gaza, while her health deteriorates day by day.

Amal Ahmad Nabhan (57), displaced in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, is battling a rare disease known as 'pemphigus' that affected her vocal cords, a condition affecting one in a million people. Before the war, she received treatment outside Gaza that led to significant improvement, but the interruption of treatment due to the war brought the disease back more severely. She suffers from difficulty speaking and eating, and relies on cortisone, which has become scarce and expensive. She lost her husband Husni Nabhan, a civil defense volunteer, who was killed while trying to protect an Al Jazeera crew after the targeting of Farhana School in Khan Younis, and her son Youssef (36) in Gaza City without being able to bid him farewell. She also suffered multiple fractures due to osteoporosis, including a pelvic fracture that required metal plates. Despite receiving a medical referral for treatment outside Gaza over a year ago, she is still waiting for the Israeli occupation to open the way for her to travel, and she appeals to be allowed to travel before her condition deteriorates further.