Fadi al-Katshan, from the Gaza Strip, underwent a critical vascular surgery at the Israeli Tel Hashomer Hospital in May 2013. A ventricular assist device (VAD) was installed in his heart, and he was supposed to return later for a medical consultation. The operation was successful, and Katshan returned to his family in the Gaza Strip in good health. He tried to get a travel permit from the Israeli authorities for a medical consultation four times, but he was unsuccessful. Not long thereafter, on Nov. 16, he began feeling strong chest pains and died at age 26. 

Katshan’s story seems to resemble the stories of dozens of patients who die as a result of the blockade on Gaza’s border crossings. Yet, his story stands out because an Israeli intelligence officer called Katshan after the first request for a travel permit was rejected. The officer said, “Fadi, we know that there’s a device in your heart that might explode any minute. That is why we will not give you a permit unless you cooperate with us.”

Ali al-Katshan told the story of his son’s ordeal with blackmail by the Israeli security services. In an interview with Al-Monitor in the family’s modest house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, he said that his son was diagnosed with Takayasu’s arteritis, a critical heart condition. Katshan was transferred to the Al Maqased Hospital in Jerusalem in December 2012. After his diagnosis, he was moved to Al Mizan Hospital in Hebron, then to Tulkarm Hospital and finally arrived at Tel Hashomer Hospital.

His father added, “He underwent a successful surgery [at Tel Hashomer] and then spent time recovering in the West Bank. Then, he returned to Gaza in better health, with a VAD in his heart. His medical consultation was scheduled for July 5, 2013, but the occupation refused to give him a travel permit to enter Israel.”