On Friday 9 January at 9:30 am, Israeli Supreme Court to Hear Petition filed by Adalah and Seven Other HR Organizations Demanding that Israeli Army Be Prevented
Tomorrow, Friday 9 January 2009 at 9:30 am, the Supreme Court of Israel will hold an emergency hearing on a petition demanding that the Israeli army be banned from striking medical personnel and ambulances while transporting patients, the wounded and the dead, to hospital in the Gaza Strip.
The urgent petition was filed by Adalah Attorney Fatmeh El-‘Ajou on 6 January 2009. The petition was submitted in Adalah’s own name and on behalf of seven other human rights organizations: Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), Gisha: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, Bimkom: Planners for Planning Rights, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, and Yesh Din.
In its response to the petition, filed today, 8 January 2009, the state claimed that the army is not targeting ambulances or medical personnel, and is giving them full scope to carry out their work. The state further claimed that Hamas is using ambulances to transport fighters and weapons, which has compelled the army to attack them. The state’s response did not deal with the specific cases that were detailed in the petition. These cases included those of families whose homes were bombed several days earlier and to whom access by medical teams remains prohibited by the Israeli army. The state claimed that it had been unable to investigate the circumstances of these specific cases due to time constraints.
Yesterday, 7 January 2009, Adalah also filed an urgent motion for injunction to the Supreme Court to order the army to allow emergency medical professionals and ambulances to gain access to and provide medical assistance to the al-Ayidi family, whose house was hit by two artillery shells on the evening of 3 January 2009. As a result of the bombing, six members of the family were injured, none of whom has yet received any medical treatment, five days after the strike. The wounded include two elderly women in their eighties who are suffering from injuries to their heads and faces, and three boys and a three-year-old toddler who received shrapnel wounds to their entire bodies.
According to their testimonies, which have been gathered by field workers in Gaza working with the petitioners, the family lives in an isolated area to the south-east of Gaza City. As a result of the bombing, a large part of the house was destroyed, forcing them to leave the house and stay out in the open, next to the house, as Israeli army forces present in the area prevented them from moving on. After their home was bombed, the family, including 15 children and six women, was left without food, water or any source of heat or light, as the army was opening fire on anyone moving around in the area.
In a telephone conversation held with Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), one member of the family stated that because of the lack of any medicines or medical assistance they had resorted to using salt to clean their wounds. He added that in recent hours blue marks have begun to appear on the bodies of the wounded, as well as inflammation and infections around their wounds, which indicates that their condition is continuing to deteriorate.
H.C. 102/09, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel and Adalah, et al. v. The Prime Minister of Israel, et al.
