HAIFA, April 9, 2018 (WAFA) - Israel is refusing to let two young Palestinian men who were seriously wounded by Israeli military gunfire as unarmed protesters during demonstrations in Gaza travel to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank for urgent medical care, the Haifa-based Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel said in a press release issued Monday.
Adalah and the Gaza-based Al Mezan Center for Human Rights filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court on Sunday demanding Israel let the two seriously wounded young men leave the Gaza Strip.
The two men—Yousef Karnaz, 20, and Mohammad Al-‘Ajouri, 17, both from Gaza, were wounded when Israeli troops fired on them during the March 30 Land Day protests at the Gaza border with Israel.
Both young men, currently hospitalized at Shifa Hospital in Gaza, are in critical condition and in immediate danger of losing their legs as a result of their gunshot wounds.
Since Shifa hospital does not have the required medical tools to save their legs, it referred both men to Al Istishari Arab Hospital in Ramallah on April 1 and a request to exit Gaza. A transfer application to Ramallah was submitted to the Israeli military‘s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) that same day.
However, COGAT did not respond and Adalah and Al Mezan sent an urgent letter on April 4 requesting authorization for their immediate passage from Gaza to Ramallah. On April 5, Adalah was informed that COGAT refused the patients‘ requests.
Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher wrote in the Supreme Court petition that "there is no substantive justification for rejecting the request of the two petitioners, who are both confined to the ICU in critical condition. The rejection of their request is an expression of indifference to the amputation of their legs."
Adalah and Al Mezan stressed that because Israel controls the Gaza border crossings, it is responsible for allowing wounded patients to leave Gaza for transfer to the Ramallah hospital.
Continued Israeli refusal to allow Karnaz and Al-‘Ajouri access to urgent medical care constitutes a violation of their right to life and health and is a violation of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and Israeli constitutional law anchored in Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, said Adalah.
Hospitals in Gaza are struggling to deal with upwards of 1,990 wounded by Israeli snipers, live ammunition, tear gas from drones, among other kinds of excessive force. Doctors report they are running out of medicine and supplies to treat patients.
M.K.
