Bee sting therapy
At his practice in the Gaza Strip, Rateb Samour sees 250 patients a day, whose complaints range from hair loss to cerebral palsy and cancer. He is not a doctor and has never worked in a hospital. Samour inherited the skill of bee sting therapy from his father, who used to raise bees.
Since 2003, Samour, an agricultural engineer, has dedicated all his time to study and develop the alternative-medicine treatment of apitherapy, which uses bee-related products including honey, propolis (the bee glue used to build hives) and venom.
A Palestinian beekeeper uses smoke to calm bees in the process of collecting honey at a farm in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, April 11, 2016.
Bee sting therapy
Inside Samour's home, men and women wait their turn.
"I am treating serious and chronic diseases which have no cure in regular medicine, I have achieved excellent results," said Samour (left), an Egyptian-educated specialist in entomology and bees in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave.
"We speak about chondritis in the neck and spine, migraine, loss of hair, alopecia areata, skin diseases, cerebral palsy, autism and cancer," he said inside an apartment packed with patients on the edge of a refugee camp in Gaza City.
Bee sting therapy involves placing live bees on patients' skin to deliver stings, many times over. Some believe the treatment can ease inflammation and relieve a variety of medical conditions, but there is little scientific research to support it. Some studies have shown it has no benefit at all. And it could be risky -- doctors warn that some people may suffer severe allergic reactions.
Bee sting therapy
A Palestinian man, who suffers from shoulder pains, receives bee sting therapy at Rateb Samour's clinic in Gaza City, April 11, 2016.
The 58-year-old Samour said he makes bees sting patients at certain points in their bodies that he has carefully studied. A bee dies after being made to sting.
"I have been subjected to doubts, but bee sting therapy has proven itself as an excellent alternative medicine," he said.
"Some doctors, who value the apitherapy for certain illnesses, are among my patients."
Bee sting therapy
A Palestinian boy, who suffers from alopecia areata, waits to receive bee sting therapy at Rateb Samour's clinic in Gaza City, April 11, 2016.
The Islamist-ruled Gaza is under blockade by neighboring Egypt and Israel, which restricts the movement of goods and people in and out of the territory. So Gaza lacks sophisticated medical equipment and has patchy access to medicines.
Seriously ill patients must travel to Israel, Egypt or beyond for specialist medical treatment.
Bee sting therapy
Alya Al-Ghafari, 10, who has been suffering from facial palsy for over two years receives treatment at Rateb Samour's clinic in Gaza City, April 11, 2016. Mainstream medicine was both expensive and less efficient than apitherapy, according to her father.
"Treatment by bee stings has been more effective than treatment by regular medicine but you need to be patient," said Saeed Al-Ghafari, a government employee. His daughter has been receiving treatment from Samour for nearly nine months.
Bee sting therapy
"At the beginning my daughter felt pain but as time passed Alya felt she became better," said Ghafari. "Her face has become better and now she is the one who reminds us of the therapy sessions."
Bee sting therapy
A Palestinian patient, who suffers from nerve problems in his neck and back, receives bee sting therapy at Rateb Samour's clinic in Gaza City, April 11, 2016.
Bee sting therapy
A Palestinian beekeeper carries a honeycomb in the process of collecting honey at a farm in Rafah, April 11, 2016.
Bee sting therapy
Palestinian beekeepers move beehives in the process of collecting honey at a farm in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, April 11, 2016.
Bee sting therapy
A Palestinian beekeeper pours freshly collected honey into a container at a store in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, April 11, 2016.
Bee sting therapy
Palestinian beekeepers ride a rickshaw motorbike loaded with honeycombs as they make their way to collect honey at a store in Rafah, April 11, 2016.