On the 25th of May, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI) lodged an appeal with the District Court in Beer Sheva together with 1 doctor and 3 nurses working for al Makassed hospital in East Jerusalem, whose exit permits from Gaza have been denied for several months. Most of these staff members have worked in al Makassed for over 25 years. These 4 medical personnel are part of a larger group of 16 doctors and medical personnel from al Makassed whose exit permits from the West Bank and Gaza were suddenly denied in late 2016. These limitations placed on the freedom of movement of long-term staff impact the functioning of the hospital and the ability of Palestinian patients to access the right to health.
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI) initially reached out to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) in February 2017 on behalf of these 17 medical staff members, including the 4 taking part in this appeal, and sent a reminder in mid-April after not receiving a response. PHRI finally received two responses in late April, which announced that majority of these requests were denied, including all the appellants, without explanation beyond that of ‘security reasons’.
The Palestinian public health system functions as a united system, and the limits set by Israel on the movement of doctors and other medical staff between Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem impede the smooth running of the hospital. Indeed, one of the petitioners is Dr. Suheil Aeish, the head of the Molecular Genetics department, which inter-alia, screens pregnant women for potential genetic disorders. The department has no replacement for Dr. Aeish, who has worked in al Makassed since 1997. Dr. Aeish has, therefore, been forced to resort to seeing some patients via Skype. The challenge of this limitation is compounded by Gaza’s electricity shortages and leaves him with only ad-hoc patient contact as opposed to consistent accompaniment throughout the medical process. Some of his other patients are referred elsewhere, which causes an additional delay to treatment. The other appellants in this case include Wael a-Najjar, a nurse in the neonatal unit, Ziyad Abu Daiya, a nurse in the orthopedic department, and Bakir Shukri, an emergency room nurse.
The restrictions placed by the Israel on the freedom of movement of medical staff and their resultant inability to reach their workplaces are contrary to the right to health as enshrined in international law, including the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights. These restrictions also constitute interference with the work of medical teams, in violation of international humanitarian law. The protection of the right to health, the principle of non-interference with the work of medical teams, and the free passage to medical staff should be granted without any delay. It is for this reason that PHRI is requesting that the court, in the case of the 4 medical personnel, take a strong stance by adopting the position that medical staff will not be denied exit permits to reach their workplace in Israel and East Jerusalem and that COGAT must respond within a reasonable time-span not exceeding 30 days.