Alaa Oudeh, whose legs were amputated after he was forbidden entry to Israel. (Physicians for Human Rights)

October 5, 2007

Israel is allowing entry to only the most severly wounded Palestinians, and not to those at risk of losing limbs or suffering other debilitating handicaps, according to Physicians for Human Rights.

Hundreds of people were injured during the June clashes in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Fatah. However, only those whose lives were in danger were allowed into Israel for treatment. Others, whose injuries endangered "only" their quality of life, remained in the Gaza Strip for treatment, PHR wrote to the defense minister and the health minister.

Out of 44 requests to transfer injured individuals for treatment in Israel, 16 were refused by authorities in Israel, PHR said. In some cases, this meant physicians in Gaza had to amputate limbs because treatment was delayed too long.

A senior defense official responded, "No medical prioritization was carried out. From the moment Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip, we lost all communication with the Palestinians on the other side of the Erez Crossing. The only coordinating body is the Red Cross, which indicated to us the status of the injured, and later became a coordinating body. In cases of serious injuries, we brought them for treatment in
Israel. There were cancer patients who continued to come to Israel to receive chemotherapy."

Alaa Oudeh, 25, from Gaza, is wheelchair-bound. Both his legs were amputated. Oudeh, 25, was marked as a Fatah member, and in the bloody clashes three months ago, that was a good enough reason for Hamas to shoot 14 bullets into his legs. Speaking by phone from Gaza, Oudeh said Hamas activists came to his building and killed a senior Palestinian Police officer. "Right after they took the officer and killed him, they came into my house and forced me outside," he recalled. Oudeh was taken by jeep to a remote place.

There, two masked men shot him at close range, he said. "They said they would teach me and everyone else that it was forbidden to cooperate with Fatah. After they shot me, they kicked me in the legs where I had been shot. Then they left me there."

Oudeh says an ambulance brought him to Shifa Hospital in Gaza, which was crowded with people bleeding and screaming for help.

The blood vessels in Oudeh's legs were seriously damaged, and his leg and thigh bones were smashed. He was rushed to surgery, but four days later his condition was still deteriorating. The Palestinian Health Ministry requested he be moved to Israel for further treatment by experts.

His medical file was faxed to the deputy director of Sheba Hospital at Tel Hashomer, Professor Rafi Waldan, a worldwide vascular expert. Walden, who happens to be President Shimon Peres' son-in-law, determined that Oudeh should be brought to Israel within 24 hours to receive optimum treatment; otherwise his legs would have to be amputated.

However, the Erez Crossing was closed due to the riots. PHR sent Israeli security officials a request to have Oudeh transferred to Sheba or to Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital, but they prohibited Oudeh from entering Israel due to security reasons. PHR then petitioned the High Court of Justice in the name of Oudeh and 25 other Gazan patients blocked from entering Israel. Following a closed-door hearing, the justices ordered the security officials to "reexamine the required balance" between the urgency of medical treatment and the security risk presented by the patients.

Meanwhile, Oudeh's situation grew worse. Gaza doctors were forced to amputate his left leg, and PHR petitioned the High Court again. Security officials persuaded the court that Oudeh was a security risk. A week later, his other leg was amputated.

"A person is sitting in a wheelchair. How can he be a security risk to the state? To be so dangerous in that condition, he'd have to be a super-terrorist," said Ran Yaron, the PHR coordinator for Oudeh's case. "We asked the security establishment to transfer him to Jordan under guard, but they refused this, too. We feel like this is a matter of principle not to let him out," Yaron added.

"I don't understand why they won't let me in. I never did anything bad," Oudeh said.

The Shin Bet security service responded that Oudeh's request posed a danger to state security, and that they told this to the High Court. "Those in need of chemotherapy or high-level orthopedic treatment come to Israel," a security official said. "Israel is in permanent contact with the Palestinian health coordinator, Ahmad Abu-Reza. If he approves the transfer, it is a pledge by the Palestinian Authority to fund the treatment. If not, the patient pays. If the Shin Bet objects for security reasons, the whole process is called off. But the Shin Bet often grants requests for the transfer of injured individuals."