PHR’s occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) department has recently learned that the Jerusalem Red Crescent has been required to coordinate the evacuation of Palestinian patients from East Jerusalem back home to the West Bank following their treatment. In an appeal sent to the head of the Civil Administration, Brigadier General Motti Almoz, PHR’s oPt department protested the requirement as likely to impose an unnecessary burden on ambulance crews and hospitals;

"This requirement doesn’t stand to reason given that these are patients who’ve entered Israel with all the necessary coordination and entry permits, received treatment for which they entered, and seek to return home.” Furthermore, patients who are transferred by a private ambulance are not required to carry out any coordination on their way back to the West Bank, nor are patients whose medical condition does not require transfer by ambulance. "

In response to their claim, PHR-Israel have learned that the requirement has been suspended and that patients can now return to the West Bank areas without prior coordination. All concerned parties have been briefed in accordance with new instructions to this effect, stated the response.