Israel denies entry of medical staff to Gaza

Wednesday October 08, 2008 16:29 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC&Agencies

Israel denied entry to a medical staff into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, holding the staff at the Eritz checkpoint in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources reported.

Head of the public relations department at the Gaza-European hospital in southern Gaza, Auda Kaware', confirmed to media outlets that Israeli occupation troops, manning the Eritz checkpoint, prevented the entry of 9 Israel-Arab physicians as well as denying entry of medical assistance.

The said delegation was supposed to conduct urgent surgeries under the Israeli siege, which has so far caused the death of 250 patients, Kawere' explained.

He added that the delegation consists of bone, tumor and general surgery surgeons and that they brought with them some transplant organs and medical stuff, worth about $22,000 U.S dollars.

The Gaza-European hospital has already prepared a list of 330 patients with urgent surgery needs to be dealt with starting from tomorrow Thursday.

For 17 months now, Israel has imposed a debilitating closure of Gaza's crossings, preventing normal movement of people, goods and commodities in and out of the coastal territory.

According the local committee for breaking the Israeli siege in Gaza, Israeli restrictive measures have caused the death of more than 250 patients who are in need for urgent referral outside of Gaza hospitals.

gaza strip | miscellaneous | news report rami at imemc dot org