Jerusalem
CNN
—
Israel's Supreme Court has suspended a government plan to send back to Gaza a group of Palestinian patients being treated in hospitals in East Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The decision follows a petition from the Israeli nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights Israel, which decided to take action after a CNN report about Palestinian hospital patients.
“Returning residents to Gaza during a military conflict or humanitarian crisis violates international law and poses a deliberate risk to innocent lives,” the group's spokesperson Ran Yaron said on Wednesday. Ta. “This is especially true when it comes to patients who may face a death sentence due to unsanitary conditions, starvation, or even poor access to medical care.”
Following the group's appeal, Israel's Supreme Court issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Israeli government from deporting about 20 Palestinian patients and their companions to Gaza.
The Palestinians were scheduled to leave for Gaza by bus early Thursday. However, hospital officials told CNN that after a court issued a preliminary injunction, the Israeli government postponed the injunction until at least Monday.
Dr. 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 had been admitted to hospitals in Jerusalem by Israeli authorities by October 7, are five newborn babies and their mothers living at Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem.
The group included cancer patients currently in remission who were being treated at Augusta Victoria Hospital, hospital and humanitarian officials said.
Some Palestinian patients who the Israeli government wants to return to Gaza are also being treated at Tel Hashomer Hospital outside Tel Aviv, officials said.
CNN previously reported on the patient's plight, as her mothers described it. to us their Conflicting feelings about returning to Gaza. Along with a desire to reunite with her family and other children, there is also an instinct to protect the newborn by remaining in Jerusalem.
Among them is Nima Abu Galala, who was brought to East Jerusalem from Rafah pregnant with twins and gave birth on October 5. Since then, all her twins have known is the safety of a room in Makassedo Hospital.
“If I go back with the twins…where should we go together?” Where can we buy diapers and milk? ” she asked tearfully. “Gaza is no longer the same.”
“When I return, they may invade Rafah,” Abu Galala said of the Israeli army. “I am responsible for anything that harms them. I almost died when I came here and stayed here to protect them.”
Hanan Sharadan said she spent seven years trying to conceive before conceiving twins. “I'm scared because there's no ceasefire,” she said, shaking her son Abdullah. “Life has become very expensive. Disease is rampant. Infectious diseases. It's not a normal life.”
“The fact that the security authorities refuse to convey such directives in writing indicates that they themselves are aware that it is patently illegal and cannot be held accountable,'' the Israeli Doctors for Human Rights argued. It shows that they are avoiding it.”
Hospital officials said they were mainly communicating by phone with COGAT, the Israeli Ministry of Defense agency responsible for Palestinian affairs and coordinating the departure.
Dr. Atrash told CNN. He said on Sunday that he had for some time resisted demands from the Israeli government to submit a list of Palestinians who no longer needed hospital treatment.
“At the end of the day, it's not our decision,” he said. “And this is really frustrating. We [have not been] Since the war began, we have been able to help the people of Gaza. As doctors, we feel every day that there is nothing we can do. ”
In response to CNN's investigation, COGAT confirmed that Palestinians from Gaza “who do not require further medical care” are being returned to Gaza and that COGAT will coordinate their return with international aid agencies.
“If further treatment is required, COGAT will arrange a stay in a hospital to protect their health,” the agency said.
