Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Israeli government why there does not appear to be a comprehensive system in place to evacuate sick Gazans not involved in the Hamas-Israel war to other countries for necessary treatment. I ordered him to explain.
The order follows the closure of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt after Israeli forces launched attacks on the area in May, and three Israeli human rights organizations announced in early June that It stems from a petition filed.
Before the closure, about 50 patients could be evacuated each day, said Adi Lustigman, a lawyer with the Israeli Association of Physicians for Human Rights, one of the groups that filed the petition. Even that level was a drop in the bucket, she said, but medical evacuations trickled to a halt after Israel closed its border crossings. The petition calls on Israel to create a transparent process for applying for medical evacuation.
“People don’t know where to turn,” Lustigman said. Even if people apply to evacuate, there appears to be no rational approach to when permission will be granted, with some seriously ill patients still waiting, while those with mild symptoms who apply later are not allowed to leave. He said there are.
“We didn’t ask Israel to treat the people. We just asked them to move the people at a humane tempo,” Lustigman said. Although the petition does not specifically ask for the patients to be transferred abroad, only that their access to medical care be unimpeded, Israel does not want the patients to travel to a third country “for security reasons.” Yes, he said.
An unstated reason could be Israeli public opinion, she added. “As it stands, there is very strong public opposition to the petition,” she said.
Nevertheless, Mr. Lustigman argued that Israel has a responsibility towards civilians because it controls Gaza and its borders. “The state is subject to the fundamental principles of Israeli law, the principles of administrative law, the fundamental law and the rules of natural justice,” Ms. Lustigman noted, noting that the state has obligations under international treaties.
The Supreme Court set an emergency hearing on the issue over the summer. Israeli lawyers expressed agreement with the need for a medical evacuation, but asked for more time in court to demonstrate the country’s compliance. A number of interim permits were granted. In late June, at least 19 sick children, most of them cancer patients, were allowed to leave Gaza for treatment.
But Tuesday’s court order focuses on the country, the defense minister and the authority in charge of Gaza’s humanitarian coordination, known as COGAT, to clarify how that process will work. Lustigman said the state has argued in public hearings that it has a system, but has not yet convincingly demonstrated it.
Israel has until November 11 to respond under the court’s order. The Ministry of Justice declined to comment on the order. COGAT and the Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to inquiries.
“Every day a sick person is left untreated in Gaza, lives, children and infants are at risk,” said Lustigman and her colleague, a lawyer with the Israeli Association of Physicians for Human Rights. Tamir Blank says. the petition said in a statement Tuesday. “The state has an obligation to allow access to medical care so that those who can still be saved can be saved.”
For many patients, it is already too late. After several months of waiting, he received permission from Israel and Egypt to leave Gaza for emergency lymphoma treatment in the spring, just before Israeli forces captured the Rafah crossing. She died in Gaza in June as the crossing was closed. Border crossings remain closed.
Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.
