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Gaza patients suffer as Egypt keeps Rafah crossing closed

A sick Gaza toddler died in his parents' arms while waiting for the Rafah crossing to open to get specialized medical treatment abroad.

A Palestinian boy waits with his family, hoping to cross into Egypt, at Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip February 4, 2014. Egyptian authorities partially opened the Rafah crossing, Gaza's main window to the world, on Tuesday for three days, Palestinian border officials said. Since July 2013, the authorities have kept the crossing largely closed; only opening it partially for humanitarian purposes. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY IMMIGRATION TPX IMAGES OF T
A Palestinian boy waits with his family at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 4, 2014. — REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The mother of 14-month-old toddler Ahmad Abu Nahal left her son for a few minutes to prepare him a bottle of milk. When she returned, he was motionless. He had just died.

“Once I saw him in this state and didn’t hear his breathing, I knew that he had died. I cried heavily at home. He died as we watched, waiting for the Rafah crossing to open. We wanted to go to Turkey, where he would be treated,” said Ahmad’s mother, Islam Abu Nahal. Ahmad had breathed audibly, suffering from an enlarged heart.

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