Indirect

Irina Korolova

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January 27, 2022: Irina Korolova, 60, was one of seven Israelis who were shot and killed, while ten more were wounded, on the street in front of a synagogue in the Nabi Yacoub settlement in the northern part of Jerusalem. The suspected shooter, a 21-year-old Palestinian, was shot and killed by Israeli police at the scene.

Israel has officially identified the Israelis killed in the attack as Asher Natan, 14, Eli Mizrahi, 48, Natali Mizrahi, 45, Ilya Sosansky, 26, Rafael Ben Eliyahu, 56, Shaul Hai, 68, and the Ukrainian national as Irina Korolova, 60.

The attack came just a day after ten Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces – nine in Jenin and one in Jerusalem. Since the beginning of January, 30 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, including several children, while no Israelis were killed until this attack. During the Israeli assault in Jenin Thursday, in addition to killing nine Palestinians, the Israeli military also blocked ambulances from reaching the hospital and fired tear gas into a children’s ward at the hospital.

Friday’s shooting took place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27th.

The Palestinian man who was shot and killed by Israeli police, the suspected shooter in the attack, was identified as 21-year-old Khairi Alkam. According to Al Jazeera, Alkam’s grandfather and namesake was stabbed to death by an Israeli settler in 1998.

The location of the settlement where the attack took place was the Nabi Yacoub colony, which was constructed on illegally-seized Palestinian land in the neighborhood of Silwan.

This neighborhood has been the target of massive Israeli expansion and Palestinian displacement in recent years, as Israeli authorities try to remove the Palestinian presence and replace the ancient residents of the neighborhood with newly-arrive Zionist colonizers — particularly in the Wadi Hilweh area adjacent to the Al-Aqsa mosque, and in the rest of the Silwan neighborhood.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir toured the scene of the crime, followed by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The officials held an emergency cabinet meeting.

US President Joe Biden called Netanyahu on Friday night, calling the shooting “an attack against the civilized world,” and stressed “the iron-clad US commitment to Israel’s security”.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to visit Israel next week. He said on Friday, “The United States condemns in the strongest terms the horrific terrorist attack. We are in close contact with our Israeli partners and reaffirm our unwavering commitment to Israel’s security.”

According to Israeli Channel 12, “The perpetrator of the attack in the Jewish synagogue got out of a car and carried out the attack with a pistol in Jerusalem.” In addition to the seven killed, ten others were taken to the hospital with injuries ranging from moderate to severe.

Some Israeli media questioned the speed with which the Israeli police arrived on the scene, saying that the Israeli police did not arrive at the scene of the accident until about 20 minutes later. According to those reports, some witnesses said that the police initially believed that the noise came from shots fired in the air from neighborhoods close to occupied Jerusalem.

On Thursday,  Israeli soldiers killed Yousef Yahia Abdul-Karim Mheisin, 22, near Ramallah in the central West Bank, during a procession condemning the Israeli onslaught on Jenin, leading to the killing of nine Palestinians, including one woman and two siblings.

The slain Palestinians have been identified as:

  1. Saeb Mahmoud Ezreiqi, 24, Jenin city.
  2. Ezzeddin Yassin Salahat, 26, Jenin refugee camp.
  3. Abdullah Marwan Al-Ghoul, 18, Jenin refugee camp.
  4. Wasim Amjad Aref Abu Al-Ja’as, 22, Jenin refugee camp.
  5. Majeda Obeid, 61, Jenin refugee camp.
  6. Mo’tasem Mahmoud Abu Al-Hasan, 40, Al-Yamoun town.
  7. Mohammad Mahmoud Sobeh, 30, Burqin town.
  8. Mohammad Sami Ghneim, 28, Burqin town.
  9. Nour Sami Ghneim, 25, from Burqin.

The soldiers also killed one Palestinian, Yousef Yahia Abdul-Karim Mheisin, 22, in the Al-Ram town, north of occupied Jerusalem in the West Bank, during a procession condemning the Israeli onslaught on Jenin.

Also Thursday, a Palestinian child, Nayef Oweidat, 13, died from serious wounds he suffered last year during the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip.

Irina was from Ukraine, and was living in Jerusalem. Source: IMEMC

Saed Mousa Al-Qatanani

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January 04, 2023: Saed Mousa Al-Qatanani, 37, died from serious wounds he suffered two days earlier in an accidental shooting in the Gaza Strip.

Saed died from serious wounds he suffered two days earlier in an accidental shooting. Two of his brothers were assassinated by the army in 2012 and 2009.

The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, Saed was one of its senior fighters from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.

The Brigades added that Saed died on Wednesday evening and added that the fighter was one of its senior members who participated in countering Israeli soldiers invading Gaza in previous Israeli offensives.

The Brigades added that its fighters will never abandon the path of resistance until liberation and independence.

“Our fighters will remain committed to the struggle for liberation,” the Al-Quds Brigades said, “Our weapons will always have just one target, the illegal Israel occupation.”

Saed is the brother of Fadi Mousa Qatanani, who was assassinated by the Israeli army on November 21, 2012, after an Israeli war jet fired a missile at his home, and Ali Mousa Qatanani, who was assassinated by the Israeli army on April 1, 2009.

Nasser Mohammad Abu Hmeid

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December 20, 2022: Nasser Mohammad Abu Hmeid, 50, died at an Israeli medical center from cancer that went untreated professionally during his years of imprisonment by Israel.

The Palestinian Detainees’ Committee confirmed that the cancer-stricken Palestinian detainee, Nasser Abu Hmeid, imprisoned by Israel and serving several life terms, has died at an Israeli medical center.

The Committee said Nasser Abu Hmeid, 50, was moved from the Ramla prison clinic to Assaf Harofeh Israeli medical center after suffering serious complications and died at the hospital.

Abu Hmeid’s condition started declining in August of last year, 2021, when he complained of pain in the chest and was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Israeli surgeons removed about 100 centimeters from the area of his tumor and moved him back to Asqalan prison despite his urgent need for chemotherapy and other treatment.

He was left without treatment for some time before the doctors decided he urgently needed chemotherapy and other treatment, but the prison authority kept delaying his transfer to a hospital and denied him the potentially life-saving treatment.

Shortly before his death, Nasser was able to undergo more chemotherapy treatment, but his cancer has already spread and become terminal.

Over the past several months, many human rights and legal groups filed appeals with Israeli courts demanding Nasser’s release to receive treatment at a Palestinian medical center close to his family, but Israel denied all appeals.

Nasser was serving seven life terms and additional fifty years in prison; he was abducted for the first time in the year 1987 and was imprisoned for four months; he was abducted again and sentenced to two and a half years.

Nasser was abducted for the third time in 1990 and was sentenced to life in prison, but was released as part of direct Palestinian-Israeli talks; however, not long after, the army abducted him before he was sentenced to several life terms.

Nasser is also the brother of Abdul-Mon’em Abu Hmeid, who was killed by the Israeli army on May 31, 1994, in addition to Nasr Abu Hmeid, who is serving four life terms in Israeli prisons, Sharif, serving four life terms, Mohammad, serving two life terms and thirty years, and Islam who is serving a life term and eight years in prison.

The Abu Hmeid family home was demolished by Israel five times, and his mother was barred from visiting her imprisoned sons, especially Nasser, for several years; their father also died without seeing his sons.

It is worth mentioning that Nasser was born in 1972 in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip before his family moved to the West Bank.

The Ad-Dameer Prisoner Support And Human Rights Association has reported that Abu Hmeid passed away from advanced lung cancer while held captive in Ramleh Prison Clinic—a carceral clinic known for its systemic human rights abuses enacted toward sick and ill Palestinian prisoners. Abu Hamid’s passing is thus a direct consequence of the Israeli Prison Service’s ongoing and deliberate practice of medical negligence.

Ad-Dameer said: “The Israeli occupation authorities blatantly violate international norms and conventions related to protecting and providing care for Palestinian prisoners experiencing illness.

International humanitarian law guarantees the provision of necessary medical care to patients. Articles 76 and 91 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulate the right of sick detainees to receive necessary medical care, maintain a healthy diet, and have access to necessary medical examinations.

Despite such laws, statistics compiled by human rights organizations indicate that the number of sick Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons is currently around 600, with over 200 prisoners with chronic diseases and 24 prisoners diagnosed with cancer and other serious illnesses. Since 1967, with the death of Nasser Abu Hamid, the total number of Palestinian prisoners who have passed away in Israeli occupation prisons has reached 233—74 of whom have passed away as a result of medical negligence.

Compounding their crimes of medical neglect, Israeli occupation forces continue to withhold the bodies of the now-eleven Palestinian prisoners who have been martyred. By withholding bodies, Israel inflicts severe psychological pain on the deceased person’s family. As such, Nasser’s family does not know when his body will be released for proper burial. Further, Nasser has four brothers—all of whom are also currently held in Israeli occupation prisons and are subjected to the same harsh conditions of detention and medical neglect he experienced prior to his passing. To add to the family’s suffering, Nasser’s family’s house was demolished several times—most recently in 2019.

By granting constant impunity to Israel, the international community has failed to protect Nasser Abu Hamid and allow him a humane and dignified passing at home surrounded by his family and loved ones. Yet Nasser, at the end of his life and in the face of the decades of violence he had experienced, remained true to his principles of resilience. Nasser refused his legal counsel’s advice to submit a pardon to the Israeli Military Commander in the West Bank to consider his release—instead choosing to pass without submitting to the demands of the Israeli Occupation Forces. In these difficult times, Addameer stands in solidarity with Abu Hamid’s family.”

Seventy-four of the deceased detainees died due to medical neglect after Israel denied them the right to adequate and professional medical attention; one of them, Sa’diyya Farajallah, 68, had diabetes and high blood pressure, diabetes, a heart condition, and various chronic illnesses, and was taking various medications before she was taken prisoner and was denied the right to medical treatment.

Israel holds at least 4700 Palestinians captive, including 150 children and 33 women. About 600 detainees are sick, including 24 who suffer from cancers and tumors of various degrees.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) said Israel is refusing to release 600 ailing detainees, including 200 who have chronic conditions that require constant medications and follow-up and 24 who have various forms of cancer and need specialized medical treatment.

Israeli continues to refuse the release of the corpses of ten Palestinians who died in its prisons, including Anis Doula from Qalqilia, who died in the year 1980, Aziz Oweisat, who died in 2018, Fares Baroud, Nassar Taqatqa, and Bassam Sayeh, who all died in 2019, Sa’ad Al-Gharabily and Kamal Abu Wa’ar who died in 2020, Sami Al-Armour who died in prison in 2021, Daoud Zobeidi and Maher Mohamamd Turkmal who died this year 2022.

Besides the 233 who died in Israeli prisons, hundreds of Palestinians died after their release from various diseases they suffered while in prison and were not given the proper treatment.

The number of Palestinian detainees in 23 Israeli prisons, detention camps, and interrogation facilities is at least 4700, including 150 children, including 835 held under arbitrary Administrative Detention orders without charges or trial.

Among the Palestinians who are held under Administrative Detention orders are four children and two women.

Nasser was from the Al-Am’ari refugee camp near the central West Bank city of Ramallah. Source: IMEMC, Ad-Dameer

Tamer Azmin Nashrati

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December 19, 2022: Tamer Azmin Aref Nashrati, 23, succumbed to the serious wound he had suffered a week prior, when several Israeli military vehicles invaded Jenin, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the young man, Tamer Azmin Aref Nashrati, 23, from the Jenin refugee camp in Jenin city in the northern West Bank, died from his wounds at the Istishari hospital in Ramallah.

Various Palestinian factions vowed to continue the path of resistance until liberation and independence.

Hundreds of Palestinians participated in his funeral procession and ceremony in Jenin and marched carrying his body, calling for ongoing resistance, steadfastness, and unity.

The Jenin Brigade of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, said Samer was one of its members.

Media sources said Tamer was seriously injured when an explosive charge he was preparing detonated while he was handling it as several armored Israeli military vehicles invaded Jenin and Jenin refugee camp.

Tamer was from Jenin, in the northern West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Mahmoud Mohammed Al-Kurd

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December 16, 2022: Mahmoud Mohammed Al-Kurd, 45, died of cancer after having been denied entry to Jerusalem for lifesaving medical treatment.

The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights reported that the discriminatory movement restrictions and the arbitrary permit regime imposed by Israeli authorities on Palestinian patients from Gaza, which obstruct their access to hospitals outside the Strip, claimed the life of Mahmoud.

The most recent case of permit delay led to the death of Mahmoud Mohammed Al-Kurd, a 45-year-old cancer patient from Deir al-Balah City, on 16 December 2022, after being repeatedly denied access to the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem.

Al-Kurd suffered from lung cancer. Despite obtaining a medical referral from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and securing appointments at the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem, Israeli authorities denied him the requisite exit permit to travel for four different appointments. The last appointment to which access was denied for Al-Kurd was scheduled for 29 November 2022.

As Al-Kurd’s legal representative, Al Mezan communicated with the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) at Erez Crossing to grant him a permit, but to no avail. We then filed a preliminary petition to the Israeli Prosecutor’s Office in Beersheba to facilitate the patient’s access to the hospital, but the Prosecutor’s Office responded that they would allow him to pass through Jordan, although his appointment was in Jerusalem. At that point, Al Mezan, together with Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI), took the case to the Israeli Supreme Court, which approved the patient’s access to the hospital through the Erez crossing.

On 15 December 2022, the patient received a new hospital appointment at Augusta Victoria Hospital and accessed the hospital successfully. However, he arrived in Jerusalem in extremely poor health conditions and was pronounced dead the next day, at 10:30 pm on Friday, 16 December 2022.

Al Mezan’s documentation shows that since the beginning of 2022, nine patients—including three children—have died following Israel’s delay or denial of requests for exit permits.

We reiterate that Israel’s draconian, stifling closure of Gaza serves to deny inhabitants their fundamental right to health, and other inalienable rights, as part of an entrenched system of oppression, domination, and discrimination against the Palestinian people.

Al Mezan’s decades of experience in representing patients indicates that Israel’s denials or permit delays are not based on valid reasons but rather are part of the collective punishment and apartheid regime to which it subjects more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Al Mezan calls on the international community—in particular, the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions—to uphold their moral and legal obligations vis-à-vis the protected Palestinian people and to ensure Israel complies with its obligations under international law, ends the closure and blockade on the Gaza Strip, and stops its ongoing restrictions of Palestinian patients’ access to medical care outside the Gaza Strip.

Lastly, Al Mezan reiterates that the continued impunity provided to the Israeli forces encourages the repetition of crimes and violations against the Palestinian people.

Mahmoud was from Deir al-Balah City in Gaza. Source: Al-Mezan

Akram Ahmad Al-Sultan

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October 17, 2022: Akram Ahmad Mohammad Al-Sultan, 62, died after the Israeli authorities denied travel for treatment at Al-Muttala’ (Augusta Victoria) Hospital in occupied Jerusalem, in the West Bank.

Hazem Akram Al-Sultan, 38, said that his father had sustained a fracture in the eleventh thoracic vertebra (T11) in June 2022.

After conducting many examinations, it turned out that he had leukemia, and the doctors decided to refer him to Al-Muttala’ (Augusta Victoria) Hospital in occupied Jerusalem due to his bad health condition and urgent need for radiotherapy that is not available at the Gaza Strip’s hospitals.

On 18 July 2022, the patient applied for a permit to the Israeli authorities to travel for treatment at Al-Muttala’ Hospital, but on 08 August 2022, the Israeli authorities responded that his request was still “under study”.

The patient had to obtain a new appointment on 13 August 2022, and applied for another permit, but the Israeli authorities put his request under study again. The patient repeated the same procedures to obtain a new appointment on 30 September 2022.

On 06 October 2022, he received a text message to go to Beit Hanoun “Erez” crossing for an interview with the Israeli intelligence, so in the same morning he went there.  After waiting for 3 hours, he was asked to return to the Gaza Strip without conducting the interview.

On 17 October 2022, his health condition got worse, and he was referred to the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza Strip, where he was pronounced dead.

According to PCHR’s follow-up, so far this year, the Israeli authorities have obstructed the travel of 5,472 patients with serious diseases that lack treatment at the Strip’s hospitals.

These restrictions coincide with the deterioration of the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli-imposed closure on the Strip for the last 16 years, causing a perpetual shortage of essential drugs and medical devices and insufficient number of specialized health personnel.

PCHR condemns the obstruction of Gaza Strip Patients’ travel for treatment abroad, and calls on the international community, including the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention to exert pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to assume their legal responsibilities towards the Gaza Strip population, including patients, and to ensure that adequate and safe mechanism is provided for their travel to receive treatment abroad.

PCHR urges the international community to pressure Israel to lift the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip in line with Security Council Resolution No. 1860 that calls for the unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, including of food, fuel, and medical treatment, meaning allowing the entry of medical supplies used in radiotherapy, chemical drugs and periodic examinations for cancer patients that are not available in Gaza hospitals.

The Palestinian Center For Human Rights – PCHR, said Akram is eight Palestinian patient from Gaza, including three children, to die due to Israeli restrictions since the beginning of this year.

Akram was from the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Source: The Palestinian Center For Human Rights – PCHR

 

Tayseer Daoud Yousuf Al-Sayegh

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September 20, 2022: Tayseer Daoud Yousuf Al-Sayegh, 67, died after the Israeli authorities denied his travel for treatment at Al-Muttala Hospital in occupied Jerusalem.

Mikhail Yousuf Nicola Al-Nasrawi, 28, the patient’s companion, said that in a medical examination for Dr. al-Sayegh at al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City late in July 2022, doctors discovered a cancerous tumor spread in his lung and liver and confirmed the urgent need for an urgent treatment protocol that is not available in the Gaza Strip Hospitals and only available in Al-Muttala’ Hospital in occupied Jerusalem.

Al-Sayegh received a referral for medical referral and a hospital appointment on 05 September 2022.

He then applied for a permit to the Israeli authorities to travel via Beit Hanoun ‘Erez’ crossing and receive treatment at the Hospital on the date appointed for his treatment, yet the latter delayed responding to his travel permit and the appointment date expired.

As a result, he had to obtain a new appointment on October 22, 2022, and applied again for the permit to allow him to travel.

The patient headed to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) to help him obtaining a permit, but his health condition deteriorated, and he died at dawn on Tuesday before his permit was issued.

PCHR, in its capacity as the legal representative, intervened and sent an urgent request to the Israeli legal advisor at Bein Hanoun “Erez” crossing to allow the patient to travel on September 5, 2022, but received a response that the permit was denied.

PCHR then submitted a challenge to the Israeli Prosecution on September 15, to all the patient to travel due to his serious condition, but the patient died before receiving a response to the challenge.

According to PCHR’s follow-up, since the beginning of so far this year, the Israeli authorities have obstructed the travel of 5,001 patients with serious diseases that lack treatment at the Strip’s hospitals.[1]

These restrictions coincide with the deterioration of the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli-imposed closure on the Gaza Strip for the last 16 years, causing a perpetual shortage of essential drugs and medical devices and insufficient number of specialized health personnel.

PCHR condemned the obstruction of Gaza Strip Patients’ travel for treatment abroad, and calls on the international community, including the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention to exert pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to assume their legal responsibilities towards the Gaza Strip population, including patients, and to ensure that adequate and safe mechanism is provided for their travel.

It called on the international community to pressure Israel to lift the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip in line with Security Council Resolution No. 1860 that calls for the unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, including of food, fuel, and medical treatment which means allowing the entry of medical supplies used in radiotherapy, chemical drugs and periodic examinations for cancer patients that are not available in Gaza hospitals.

Since the beginning of this year, the number of patients denied travel for treatment abroad has risen to 6, including 3 children.

Dr. Taiseer was from Gaza. Source: The Palestinian Center For Human Rights (PCHR)

[1] Date obtained by PCHR’s fieldworkers from the Coordination and Liaison Department at the Ministry of Health

Mousa Haroun Abu Mahameed

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September 03, 2022: Mousa Haroun Abu Mahameed, 40, a Palestinian political prisoner held by Israel, died at the Assaf Harofeh Israeli medical center.

Two days before his death, his family from Beit Ta’mar village, east of Bethlehem, held Israel responsible for the sharp and sudden health deterioration which eventually led to his death.

His father, Haron, said he was surprised to be informed by the International Committee of the Red Cross that his son, who was healthy when he was taken prisoner, was not in prison when he tried to apply for a permit to visit with him, an issue that was of great concern to the family before it contacted human rights groups.

Haron added that he was later informed that his son was admitted to the Assaf Harofeh Israeli medical center.

Mousa had a psychological condition and received treatment prior to being abducted, but was otherwise healthy, not suffering from any health condition or diseases.

When the father was finally able to head to the hospital on Wednesday, August 21, 2022, the doctors told him that his son was in a critical condition and that he was admitted on August 7, but neither the family nor the Red Cross or any other group were informed.

The Israeli soldiers abducted Mousa in June of 2021 while crossing a military roadblock heading to his work in Jerusalem.

The army said Mousa was taken prisoner because he had no permit to enter or work in occupied Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) held Israel responsible for Abu Mahameed’s death, adding that Israel has escalated its violations against the Palestinian workers since the beginning of this year, not only by assaulting and abducting them, but also by opening fire at them at crossing points and military roadblocks.

Israeli soldiers abducted more than 2140 Palestinians since the beginning of this year, 2022, including more than 450 Palestinians, among them many children, who were abducted on April 15 in the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Also, there are more than 600 ailing Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, among them 200 with chronic conditions and 22 who have cancer and tumors, including Nasser Abu Hmeid, who is in a serious condition due to lung cancer.

It is worth mentioning that Israel still holds the corpses of 357 Palestinians, including 106 who were killed after 2015, and continues to refuse them to their families and 256 buried in the so-called “Numbers Graveyards.”

Mousa was from Beit Ta’mar village, east of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Source: IMEMC

Farouq Mohammad Abu Naja

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August 28, 2022: Farouq Mohammad Abu Naja, 6, died after Israeli denied his travel for medical treatment at the Hadassah Ein Karem Israeli Medical Center in Jerusalem, in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemned the Israeli continuous obstacles to the travel of Gaza Strip’s patients, denying them access to the Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and Israeli hospitals for receiving or resuming their medical treatment.

The PCHR added that these obstacles have aggravated the suffering of thousands of patients and resulted in the death of 4 patients; the last one was Farouq whose travel permit for treatment at Hadassah hospital in the occupied Jerusalem, was denied.

Suleiman Ahmad Abu Naja, 56, the deceased child’s grandfather, from Yabna refugee camp in Rafah, said that his grandson was denied travel for treatment at Hadassah- ‘Ein Karem Hospital as he suffers from cerebral atrophy.

Abu Naja added that his grandson received a medical referral for treatment on 12 January 2022 at Hadassah ‘Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem; the referral is funded by the Christian Aid Ministries.

He applied to have a travel permit from the Israeli occupation authorities; however, the latter replied that his request is still under study.  Thus, the child could not travel for treatment on the given appointment.

Abu Naja said that they obtained another appointment on 10 August 2022 and then re-applied for the travel permit, but the Israeli authorities kept replying that the request is “under study”. While waiting for the Israeli approval, the child’s health deteriorated until he died at the European Gaza Hospital on Wednesday evening, 24 August 2022.

According to the Health Department of the General Authority for Civil Affairs (GACA) statistics, since the beginning of this year, the Israeli authorities have obstructed the travel of 4,169 patients from the Gaza strip for treatment abroad since.  Most of these patients suffer serious diseases that lack treatment at the Strip’s hospitals.

The Israeli occupation army invokes various reasons and excuses to prevent Gaza patients from traveling for treatment; including requests under study, summoning patients for a security interview, requests denied for having a relative illegally residing in the West Bank or Israel, and the treatment available in Gaza hospitals.

These restrictions come with the deterioration of the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip triggered by the Israeli-imposed closure for 16 years, as the Gaza Strip hospitals suffer from acute shortage of essential drugs and medical devices and insufficient number of specialized health professionals; rendering the hospitals unable to treat many serious diseases and so raising the number of patients referred for treatment abroad during the past years.

In light of the above, PCHR calls on the international community, including the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, and the UN bodies and international organizations to exert pressure on the occupation to assume their legal responsibilities towards the residents of the Gaza Strip, including patients, and to ensure an appropriate and safe mechanism is provided for their travel.

PCHR calls on the international community to pressure Israel to lift the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip in line with Security Council Resolution No. 1860, and to import the medical supplies used in radiotherapy, chemical drugs and periodic examinations for cancer patients that are not available in Gaza hospitals.

Farouq was from Yabna refugee camp in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Source: The Palestinian Center For Human Rights (PCHR):

Natan Fitoussi

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August 15, 2022: Natan Fitoussi, 20, was shot and killed by a fellow Israeli soldier — not by Palestinian fighters, as Israel had originally claimed.

The deceased soldier was identified as Sergeant Natan Fitoussi, 20. He was posthumously promoted from Sergeant to Staff Sergeant. Fitoussi immigrated to Israeli from France in 2014.

According to Israeli sources, Fitoussi was stationed at a guard post on the Israeli side of the Annexation Wall near Tulkarem on August 15th.

He left the guard post for a short time, and when he returned, the other soldier stationed at the post shot at him and killed him. Fitoussi lived in Netanya, since 2014.

Initially, the Israeli army reported the incident as a shooting attack by Palestinians. Israeli troops then began searching the nearby Palestinian villages for the alleged gunman.

But after that initial report, and following an investigation, Israeli military officials clarified that the incident was not a shooting attack by Palestinians.

Such incidents of so-called ‘friendly fire’ are common among Israeli soldiers, especially during ground invasions when soldiers get excited and confused and begin firing at one another.

Earlier this year, two Israeli military officers from an elite commando unit were shot by ‘friendly fire’ at a military base in the Jordan Valley.

The military criticized the Israeli media for reporting on the incident before confirming the details, and before the military had a chance to notify the soldier’s family of his death.

Natan was from Netanya, in central Israel. Source: IMEMC