A Palestinian mother with her baby at Israel's Sheba hospital.

Sick kids cross Israel border

Imagine this. You have a child with leukaemia and you live in the Gaza Strip.

Israel is right next door and they will have a cure: but Gaza is ‘enemy territory’. Imagine finding three permits to get to Israel.

Imagine having to stay with your child for up to six months while they receive the treatment, away from family and friends and not being able to leave the hospital campus for “security reasons”.

Imagine you’re facing a doctor who can only advise you in Hebrew or English – neither of which you can speak.

Imagine the mountainous costs, thousands of dollars to save your child, but your husband, the only family breadwinner, earns just $400 per month as a part-time construction worker. You can’t afford a taxi from the checkpoint to the hospital.

And just imagine that no one really cared about any of these scenarios.

Read the full article by Gareth Andrews at The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.