For the second consecutive day, Palestinian patients and wounded individuals in the Gaza Strip were prevented from leaving the Strip to receive medical treatment abroad, after the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings were closed due to Jewish holidays. This closure is preventing patients from reaching specialized hospitals in a timely manner.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health stated in a brief statement on Monday that no patients or wounded individuals were evacuated through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings for the second day due to the Israeli holidays.
According to Yoram Halevy, the Israeli government coordinator in the Palestinian territories, the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings, located in the southern Gaza Strip, were closed on Sunday and Monday due to the Jewish holidays.
The closure of the two crossings comes days after Israel reduced the number of patients, wounded individuals, and their companions scheduled to leave for treatment in Egypt from 136 to 61 Palestinians, according to a previous statement from the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry at the time considered the Israeli move a blatant violation of the right to treatment, warning that the lives of hundreds of patients were at risk of death as a result of being denied timely access to specialized hospitals. The Ministry of Health called on the World Health Organization, the United Nations High Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and other relevant international organizations to intervene immediately and exert direct pressure on the Israeli authorities to stop what it described as arbitrary conditions.
