State of the Gaza Strip Border Crossings (01 – 31 May 2020)
In an unprecedented development, the Coordination and Liaison Department in the Palestinian Ministry of Health suspended the travel coordination for the Gaza Strip patients, who are referred to hospitals in Israel or the West Bank for medical treatment. This move was pursuant to the Palestinian President’s decision on 20 May 2020, stating that the State of Palestine and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) are no longer bound by treaties and agreements with the American and Israeli governments and all consequent obligations. As a result, hundreds of critically ill patients, whose health conditions cannot afford any delay, were deprived of travel abroad for treatment or completing the treatment protocols they had started in previous periods. The Israeli authorities bear full responsibility for the lives of Palestinian patients in the Gaza Strip who are in dire need for medical treatment abroad and face imminent death as a result of denying them access to basic medical services that are unavailable in the Gaza Strip.
