Three Israeli human rights groups filed a petition after the closure of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, slowing the evacuation of patients.
Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Israeli government to explain why there appears to be no comprehensive system in place to facilitate evacuations of sick Gazans who are not involved in the Hamas-Israel war to other countries for needed treatment.
The order stems from a petition filed by three Israeli human rights groups in early June, following the closure of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt after the Israeli military began assaulting the area in May.
About 50 patients were able to evacuate daily before the closure, said Adi Lustigman, a lawyer for Physician for Human Rights Israel, one of the groups that filed the petition. Even that level was just a drop in the bucket, she said, but the medical evacuations trickled to a halt after Israel closed the border crossing. The petition demands that Israel create a transparent process for applications for medical evacuations.
“People don’t know where to turn,” Ms. Lustigman said. Even when people apply for evacuations, there does not appear to be a reasoned approach to when permission is granted, with some critically ill patients still waiting while less sick individuals who applied later are allowed out, she said.
“We didn’t ask Israel to treat people, just to move them in a humane tempo,” Ms. Lustigman said. The petition did not specifically seek that patients be transferred abroad, only that they not be blocked from access to medical care, but Israel prefers “due to security reasons” that they travel to a third country, she said.
An unstated reason might be Israeli public opinion, she added. “There is a very strong public objection to the petition as it is,” she said.
