Reports | 25 05 2020
About 160 people were killed in Khan Shih Camp, southwest of Damascus, since 2011, due to the ongoing shelling, the deterioration of the health situation, and the spread of diseases, without any solution to stop this tragedy.
People in Khan Shih can’t forget the killing of the two children, Ahmed and Yasmin by the bombing of the regime's army, that two kids who were born after their father had a long-term treatment of infertility.
Another story that is not less tragic than the death of the two children, happened with Waleed Abu Raya, who injured while he was repairing the electricity, he had to go to Damascus for treatment, because field hospitals were not able to revive him, and once he arrived in the city, he has been arrested by a Syrian regime checkpoint.
Without doctors or medicine!
Abu Raya incident is one of the tragedies that took place in the camp, which is threatened by the spread of diseases, as a result of running out of medication from the only three pharmacies in the camp, and bombing the field hospital with barrel bombs, to get out of service last May.
According to Ahmed Hussein, an activist in the working group for the Palestinian-Syria, 30 doctors left Khan Shih, and only two remained, one of them is a dentist, while the medical center’s work, affiliated with "UNRWA", is limited to provide medicines for patients with diabetes and pressure only.
"death path"
Under these circumstances, people found only one way out, it is the farm road leading to the nearby town of Drosha, they use it to secure food and needs, but that “artery” turned into a "death path".
Hussein speaks about this path, referring to dozens of victims who died there, and the last incident was the bombing of a bus, what caused the death of 6 passengers, that was during the 68 anniversary of the Palestine plight in 1948. "
Hussein added: "also a number of the people from the camp died, as a result of targeting many places in the farms’ road, by the Syrian regime's army".
Documentation and Statistics
Despite the difficulty of statistical work, but a number of Palestinian activists Syrians worked on the documenting the number of victims and detainees, as well as the events that passed through the camp since the fighting approached it.
The activist “Abu Muslim” documented the death of about 160 people, including 13 executed on the ground inside and outside the camp, also 25 who died under torture in the Syrian regime's prisons, without having their bodies back to their families, so that Khan Shih would be the third camp in the number of Palestinian victims, who have died in Syria since 2011, and it comes after the Yarmouk refugee camp south of Damascus and the Ramal Camp in Latakia.
Palestinian activist Abu Suhaib says: "go back the beginning of the events in 2013, after the control of the opposition battalions on military barracks, and the air base, so the Syrian regime respond with massive bombardments on the camp and the farms surrounding it, a number of victims fell, even though the fighters were not present within the camp, they are stationed in the neighboring farms and places the region."
He explains: "that battle formed the beginning of a new phase, when the people started to flee from the camp to “Artoz” and “Qudsaya”, and then to Lebanon, many of them had to emigrate to Europe, as a result of the ongoing bombing, and the deterioration of living conditions and medical situation."
No solution in sight
The activists interviewed by "Rozana" talked about the "disappointment” of the people in Khan Shih towards the Palestinian Fictions, because they think that the fictions didn’t try to seek solutions for the bad situations in the region, and to prevent what has happened in Yarmouk refugee camp, so the both camps had the same fate, as their efforts were limited to meetings with some notables, without any consequence."