Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory

ISRAEL AND OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY

June 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of Israel’s military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem—and in Gaza, a decade of blockade and closure.

Ninety-three attacks including violence against Palestinian health workers, interferences with the delivery of health care, obstruction of medical transport, and denial of impartial care to wounded civilians were identified. Most reported incidents were attributed to Israeli security forces.

On several occasions, armed Israeli security forces entered health facilities—including in Ramallah, Hebron, and East Jerusalem—to arrest people and interfered with the delivery of health care, including emergency medical care.[1][2][3][4]

The most common type of obstruction to medical transport was unreasonable delay to or blockage of the passage of ambulances. In almost all cases, Palestinian patients, even emergency cases, are forbidden from entering East Jerusalem or Israel in a Palestinian-registered ambulance. Instead, they undergo a “back-to-back” transfer, whereby medics must transfer a patient from one ambulance to another, causing harmful and even life-threatening delays. PRCS documented 33 specific instances when Israeli security forces restricted,  the freedom of movement of PRCS ambulances in the West Bank, 22 of which were at Israeli checkpoints, with delays of up to two hours.[5] For example, in March, Israeli security forces at Qalandia checkpoint held an ambulance, which was transferring a 52-year-old woman with a severe brain hemorrhage to Al Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, for 20 minutes. Israeli security forces prevented PRCS ambulances from reaching and providing first aid to injured civilians on at least seven occasions.

PRCS also documented 22 instances when Israeli security forces used violence against PRCS ambulances, including firing rubber bullets and tear gas at them, causing damage to the ambulances on 15 occasions. Israeli security forces also physically assaulted or fired tear gas or rubber bullets at health workers, primarily ambulance workers and volunteers. Israeli security forces injured at least 21 PRCS staff or volunteers: seven in the West Bank and 14 in Gaza. PRCS documented three instances where Israeli security forces threatened and intimidated their teams by pointing weapons at medics or volunteers. Israeli security forces also physically assaulted hospital staff.

In 2017, the approval rating for exit permits issued by Israeli authorities to Palestinians seeking medical treatment outside Gaza was the lowest since the WHO began collecting figures in 2008. Israeli authorities approved just of 54% permits, a record low.[6] Palestinians from Gaza missed at least 11,000 scheduled medical appointments in 2017 after Israeli authorities denied or failed to respond in time to applications for permits. The WHO reported that 54 Palestinians, 46 of whom had cancer, died in 2017 following the denial or delay of their permits.[7]

CASE STUDY: ARMED ISRAELI FORCES ENTER EAST JERUSALEM HOSPITAL

On July 17, 2017, armed Israeli security forces entered Al Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem to arrest a young Palestinian man, 19-year-old Alaa Abu Tayih, who was being treated for a bullet wound. Police stationed themselves outside the intensive care unit where the young man was being treated and prevented his family from reaching him.[8] Al Makassed Hospital reported that the Israeli forces intimidated patients, their companions, and medical staff, as well as checked identity cards and permits of staff and hospital visitors.[9]

On July 21, Israeli security forces entered Al Makassed Hospital for a second time, after firing stun grenades and teargas in the yard outside the hospital. They perpetrated violence against medical staff, including pushing, kicking, and beating. One nurse was beaten unconscious.[10] In at least one case, Israeli forces disrupted the medical treatment of a seriously injured patient receiving care at the hospital. The hospital’s head of reception, Talal al-Sayed, described around 200 heavily armed Israeli military personnel surrounding and forcefully entering the hospital and said the events went “above and beyond what we’ve ever seen. They [Israeli forces] invaded the entire hospital…They even entered the neonatal unit.”[11] Amnesty International reported that Israeli forces were pursuing Mohammad Abu Ghannam, a young man with a major chest wound in critical condition.[12] They reportedly entered the operating theater where he was being treated, and “shoved and hit” the doctor who was trying to provide urgent care to him. Mohammed died of his wounds during the incident. A nurse working during the raid said, “I have never been so scared in my life. All I remember were loud sounds and pushing and screaming. It was total chaos... There was blood all over the place on the floor on the walls.”

On August 10, Physicians for Human Rights–Israel called upon the Israeli Ministry of Health to examine the violent incidents at Al Makassed Hospital.[13] The Ministry of Health responded that they had referred the examination to the police. As of the writing of this report, Physicians for Human Rights–Israel has not received a response.[14] There is no indication that the Israeli authorities will hold anyone accountable for the violation of a protected hospital, for the impeding of potentially life-saving medical care, or for the unjustified violence used against staff and patients.