RAMALLAH, June 29, 2017 (WAFA) – The Ministry of Health denied in a statement on Wednesday that there has been any change in referral of patients to hospitals outside the besieged Gaza Strip.

The ministry was responding to allegations that it has stopped referral applications for patients for treatment in hospitals outside of Gaza that resulted in the death of three infants who needed urged medical attention in specialized hospitals not available in Gaza.

It accused both Israel and Hamas of fabricating claims that the infants with heath complications have died because the Ministry of Health failed to issue them referral papers for treatment in Israeli hospitals.

“The charges against the Ministry of Health and the campaign by the Israeli media and the media directed by Hamas are nothing more than a desperate cover up for the failure of the Hamas appointed administrative committee in Gaza to provide medical service to our people there,” said the statement.

The ministry said Hamas officials in Gaza have manipulated the referrals for Gaza patients and gave them to hundreds of cases who did not need to be transferred to hospitals outside Gaza.

It said referrals for urgent cases are processed quickly without going through the normal procedures, but that quite often Israeli delay in issuing permits for patients to leave Gaza to Israel or the West Bank is the cause for the death of the patient.

Reports on Gaza patients’ referrals by the World Health Organization have confirmed that a number of patients have died while waiting for the Israeli permit.

M.K.