Illustration
Photo: Amir Cohen
Rights group: State must allow Gaza patients treatment in Israel
Physicians for Human Rights petition High Court to order State, Shin Bet to allow patients' entry with no preconditions. 'Patients' condition meets all necessary criteria, refusal puts lives at risk,' they say
Physicians for Human Rights petitioned the High Court on Thursday, demanding it order the State to allow the transfer of 11 patients from Gaza to Israeli and Jordanian hospitals for treatment.
The patients' conditions, said the petition, meet all the necessary criteria and there was no reason to deny them transfer. All patients are in need of life-saving treatment unavailable in Gaza hospitals.
"Past experience has proved that patients die while waiting for the State's approval… we have indications that in at least seven recent cases a patient in serious condition died before they were able to work through the Shin Bet's maze and receive treatment," said the petition.
Physicians for Human Rights additionally asked the Court to order the Shin Bet to cease preconditioning patient treatment with the PHR's cooperation.
"The system has little mercy for the those who are ill in Gaza," Ran Yaron of the PHR told Ynet. "The Israeli authorities are not only breaking international law by preventing patients from receiving treatment in Israel, they are using the population in Gaza in the most cynical way."
