Israel's Supreme Court has temporarily suspended a government plan to send a group of Palestinian patients undergoing treatment in hospitals in East Jerusalem and Tel Aviv back to Gaza.
The decision follows a petition from the Israeli non-profit organization Doctors for Human Rights Israel, which decided to take action following a report from CNN about Palestinian hospital patients.
“The return of residents to Gaza during a military conflict and humanitarian crisis is against international law and poses a deliberate risk to innocent lives,” said the organization's spokesperson, Ran Yaron, on Wednesday (21). “Even more so when it comes to patients who could face a death sentence due to unsanitary conditions and starvation, coupled with the unlikely availability of medical care.”
Following the group's appeal, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a temporary injunction to prevent the government from sending around two dozen Palestinian patients and their companions back to Gaza.
The Palestinians were due to be transported by bus to Gaza on Thursday morning. However, after the temporary injunction, the Israeli government postponed this until at least Monday (25), hospital officials told CNN .
Fadi Atrash, CEO of Augusta Victoria Hospital, which treats cancer patients in Gaza, and another hospital official confirmed the delay to CNN .
Among the Palestinians, most of whom were given access to Jerusalem hospitals by Israeli authorities before October 7, are five newborn babies and their mothers who live at Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem.
The group also included cancer patients now in remission who were being treated at Augusta Victoria Hospital, according to hospital staff and humanitarian officials.
Some Palestinian patients that the Israeli government wants to send back to Gaza are also being treated at Tel HaShomer Hospital on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, officials said.
A CNN previously reported on the plight of patients, where mothers expressed their mixed emotions about returning to Gaza – with the desire to reunite with family and other children, but also with the instinct to protect their newborns by remaining in Jerusalem .
“Gaza is no longer the same”
Among them is Nima Abu Garrara, who was brought from Rafah to East Jerusalem pregnant with twins and gave birth on October 5th. Since then, all the twins have known is the safety of a room at Makassed Hospital.
“If I go back with the twins… where will I go with them? Where would I get diapers and milk?” she asked, in tears. “Gaza is no longer the same.”
“I can go back and then they will invade Rafah,” Abu Garrara said of the Israeli military. “I will be responsible for anything that harms them. I was dying when I came here and I stayed with them here to protect them.”
Hannan Sharadan said she spent seven years trying to get pregnant before becoming pregnant with twins. “I am scared because there is no ceasefire,” she said as she cradled her son Abdullah. “Life has become very expensive. There are diseases spreading. Infections. It’s not a normal life.”
Physicians for Human Rights Israel said that “the fact that those responsible for security refused to convey such a directive in writing indicates that they themselves are aware that it is clearly illegal and are avoiding responsibility.”
Hospital officials say they have been communicating largely by telephone with COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories), the Israeli Ministry of Defense body responsible for Palestinian affairs, which is coordinating the departure.
Atrash told CNN on Sunday (17) who resisted for some time the Israeli government's demands to provide a list of Palestinians who no longer needed hospital treatment.
“Ultimately, it’s not our decision,” he said. “And that’s really frustrating. We have been unable to help people in Gaza since the war began. As doctors, that’s our daily feeling, that we can’t do anything.”
In response to a survey by CNN COGAT confirmed that Palestinians from Gaza who “no longer require medical care” are being sent back to Gaza and that COGAT would coordinate the return with international aid organizations.
“In cases where there is a need for additional medical treatment, COGAT organizes your stay in hospitals to safeguard your health,” the agency stated.
Source: CNN Brasil
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