A Palestinian human rights body has sent a submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ahead of Israel’s fourth periodic review during its 66th session highlighting Israel’s restrictions on Palestinian’s right to access healthcare in hospitals in West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israel or abroad

The report, submitted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), laid emphasis on Israel’s restrictions on Palestinian patients from the blockaded Gaza Strip as they attempt to access adequate healthcare in hospitals in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israel or abroad. The restrictions violate the universal right to healthcare.

According to PCHR, Since Israel imposed its blockade on Gaza in 2007, Gaza’s health sector has been in constant deterioration. Severe restrictions on the import of dual use items, which prohibit the import of certain new medical equipment or spare parts to fix or maintain old equipment, have hampered the work at local hospitals and centers.

During this period, the Strip also witnessed three destructive offensives which resulted in extensive damage to vital health infrastructure. This left the health sector lacking adequate medical services to cope with the needs of 2 million Palestinians. The steep decline of Gaza’s healthcare and unavailability of specialized medical services increased the need for patients to be referred to hospitals in Israel and West Bank including East Jerusalem.

However, patients face many difficulties in obtaining an exit permit by the Israeli authorities to travel through Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing. Patients can be denied an exit permit on the basis that medical treatment is available locally or that the patient’s case is not life-saving and only affects his/her “quality of life”. Moreover, the lengthy security-screening process for patients and their companions might result in the patients’ application being rejected or delayed during his/her treatment or/and towards the end of it.

The Israeli authorities have also taken decisions which represent collective punishment, by banning first-degree relatives of Hamas and patients who have a relative residing in the West Bank without obtaining an Israeli permission, from travelling to receive medical treatment.

Moreover, PCHR has documented the arrest and interrogation of many patients and their companions, and in some instances, some were blackmailed by Israeli security officers in order to facilitate their medical process.

The submission also highlighted the situation of injured Great March of Return demonstrators who have been denied exit permits to access specialized treatment due to their participation in “violent acts” as claimed by the Israeli authorities. As a result many have had their lower limbs amputated. As of March 2019, according to PCHR’s data, 114 demonstrators have had their lower or upper limbs amputated including 14 children.

In light of the above findings, PCHR recommended to the Committee that it call upon the government of Israel to lift the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, allow all patients, including injured demonstrators, requiring medical treatment not available in the Gaza Strip to promptly access hospitals elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Israel, and abroad, and to allow the entry of medical items and equipment as well as spare parts to fix or adequately maintain medical equipment into Gaza.