Following urgent legal intervention, critically wounded man allowed to leave Gaza for life-saving care

19/04/2018

Adalah, Al Mezan & Physicians for Human Rights-Israel file pre-petition motion to the attorney general demanding Israel let 56-year-old Rashad Baba transfer to Nablus hospital.

Following the emergency intervention of three human rights organizations, a seriously wounded 56-year-old man has just been authorized to leave Gaza for life-saving medical treatment in the West Bank.

Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel filed a pre-petition to the Israeli attorney general on Wednesday, 18 April 2018, demanding that Israel allow Rashad Abdel Razeq Baba to leave the Gaza Strip for life-saving medical care in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

Israeli soldiers opened fire on Baba, hitting him in the legs, during a Land Day protest in Gaza on 30 March. His medical condition has seriously deteriorated since.

Baba's family filed a request with Israeli authorities on 5 April 2018 to transfer him from Gaza to Nablus but they received no response. The process is required of Gaza residents, who endure severe movement restrictions in accordance with Israel’s closure policy.

Baba's doctors have now determined that he is in imminent danger of losing his life.

In their pre-petition, the three human rights organizations included the medical opinion of Dr. Danny Rosin, a doctor volunteering at PHR-Israel.

Rosin reviewed Baba's medical documents yesterday and concluded that he is in immediate danger of losing his life and requires urgent medical attention.

Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher noted in the pre-petition that the Israeli Supreme Court decided just two days ago in the case of Yousef Al-Kronz that a wounded individual facing a "complete change in the essence of his life" should be allowed to leave the Gaza Strip in order to receive proper medical treatment.

International humanitarian law obliges Israel the occupying power to allow wounded Gazans to transfer to the West Bank for medical treatment. The fundamental rights to health and life are also engaged by the application for immediate medical transfer.

CLICK HERE to read the pre-petition [Hebrew]

(Photo courtesy of Nablus Speciality Hospital/Facebook)