Not just Palestine, but Gaza. The cost of getting anything, medical equipment especially, into Gaza is insanely high and it's usually an unreliable process. Thats likely why theres such a huge emphasis on being able to create the entire unit in the Gaza Strip.
I actually attended a talk by Dr. Loubani this past weekend at MIT and one thing he emphasized was that everything they do has to be reliably replicated in Gaza. So yeah, one could conceivably purchase the Littmann replica from AliExpress but getting it into Gaza? Another story...
TBH, someone at this age who has spent 25 years in a pipeline probably realizes that, unfortunately, no one in this market wants to hire older folks -- especially with no relevant experience.
I also am fairly certain its total comp and not salary...