As part of its policy of isolating the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Israel is barring increasing numbers of Palestinians from leaving the area for urgent medical care, according to figures compiled by an Israeli human-rights group and the United Nations.
The increased rejection of patients on unspecified security grounds has led to the deaths of at least five people since June, when Hamas seized control of Gaza, and several others have lost limbs or eyesight, according to Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, which helps Palestinians who have been refused exit for treatment.
Hospitals in Gaza cannot provide many advanced services, and seriously ill or wounded patients are often referred for specialized treatment to hospitals in Israel and the West Bank.
“The number of patients refused for ‘security reasons’ is rising,” the physicians group said in a statement Sunday. The group said that since June it had been asked to intervene in the cases of 138 patients whose entry to Israel was rejected on security grounds, compared with 66 requests for intervention between March and May. Of the 138 patients, only 52 were allowed in.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the restrictions were further tightened in September, when the Israeli Cabinet declared the Gaza Strip a “hostile territory” and a blanket exit ban was imposed during Jewish holidays.
There was “a significant reduction” in the number of Gaza patients crossing into Israel for medical treatment in September, averaging fewer than five patients per day as compared with 40 per day in July, the UN office reported.
Shlomo Dror, spokesman for the Israeli Defense Ministry department that deals with the Palestinian areas, said that Palestinians denied entry to Israel on security grounds would be allowed in for treatment only in “life-threatening” cases, not in cases that affect “quality of life.”
In one such case cited by Physicians for Human Rights, Ala Odeh, 25, who was shot in both legs in factional fighting in Gaza, was denied entry on grounds that his condition was not life-threatening. One of his legs was later amputated. After a second entry request was denied on security grounds, he lost his other leg.
In five cases, patients who were denied entry to Israel died, including one who was deemed a security risk although he was in a coma from a gunshot wound, said Miri Weingarten, spokeswoman for the physicians group. Several other patients who were refused entry for treatment of eye injuries or ailments suffered irreparable loss of sight, she added.
After initially refusing entry to eight patients with life-threatening conditions, Israeli authorities allowed them to leave Gaza after Physicians for Human Rights threatened last week to challenge the bans in Israel’s Supreme Court.
Human Rights Watch criticized the Israeli policy Friday. “Israel is punishing sick civilians as a way to hurt Hamas, and that’s legally and morally wrong,” said a statement by Leah Whitson, director of the group’s Middle East division.
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jogreenberg@tribune.com
