Ref: 74/2021

Date: 27 May 2021

Time: 16:00 GMT

As part of the unremitting efforts exerted by the lawyers at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) to save the lives of patients and Palestinians injured, PCHR managed to obtain a travel permit for a man injured in the latest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip in order to save his life.

On Thursday morning 27 May 2021, PCHR’s lawyers obtained a permit for Dr. Ihab Mahmoud Ahmed al-Dawahidi (36) to travel via Beit Hanoun “Erez” crossing for treatment at al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem.

Dr. al-Dawahidi was critically injured on the 9th day of IOF’s offensive on the Gaza Strip on 19 May 2021 after the Israeli warplanes targeted a house belonging to Saleh Family next to his house behind al-Karamah towers in the northern Gaza Strip.

It should be noted that the wounded is a doctor and Director of the Medical Laboratories at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).  On the day he was injured, he received a call that he had to evacuate his house immediately as another house in the area would be targeted.  After he and his family, including women and children, evacuated and kept distance from the house, the Israeli warplanes targeted Saleh Family house.  As a result, al-Dawahidi was hit with several shrapnel, causing him a skull fracture and critically harming his brain.

Since he was injured, al-Dawahidi has been on a ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at al-Shifa Hospital.  Due to lack of medical capabilities necessary for his treatment at the Gaza Strip’s hospitals, he obtained an urgent medical referral to al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem, but the Israeli occupation authorities procrastinated allowing his travel urgently and promptly.  As a result his health condition seriously deteriorated and his life has become at an imminent danger.

Accordingly, to save his life, PCHR’s lawyers promptly intervened and took the necessary legal proceedings.  The lawyers continued to follow up closely until on Wednesday, 27 May 2021, they could obtain a permit for him and his companion to travel via Beit Hanoun “Erez” crossing via an ICU ambulance.

The Israeli occupation authorities’ practices and procrastination when granting patients and persons injured permits to travel for treatment constitute a grave breach of the international humanitarian law and international human rights law, which guarantees the right to movement and treatment.  Consequently, despite all the obstacles imposed by the Israeli authorities, PCHR will continue its work and legal struggle in order to grant Gaza patients and casualties their right to receive adequate treatment immediately.