Israel is blocking physicians with Palestinian heritage from entering Gaza, report says

Gaza (Quds News Network)- Israel has imposed restrictions on medical missions going into Gaza through Israel, including blocking the entry of US healthcare workers, and those of other nationalities, if they are of Palestinian origin or have Palestinian heritage, according to internal memos from the World Health Organization (WHO) obtained by CNN.

According to CNN’s Wednesday report, several medical aid organizations say the policy has forced them to avoid recruiting any medical workers with Palestinian background or ID on their trips. The rejections often come at the last minute, they say, leaving the groups with no time to fill the empty slots and forcing them to enter Gaza with an incomplete staff.

“We have to actually tell people of Palestinian origin or Palestinian dual nationals that it is not possible for them to go in,” Sameer Sah, director of programs at Medical Aid for Palestinians, an aid organization based in the United Kingdom, told CNN.

“We have to distinguish between Palestinians and non-Palestinians which is not ethically right, which is not right in terms of humanitarian laws, and it is not humane.”

According to WHO internal memos from early June reviewed by CNN, it described the extent of what they call Israel’s new policy, in which aid groups were advised against bringing medical professionals with a Palestinian background – even if only through a parent or grandparent – on mission trips.

“They said ‘you’re denied because of your Palestinian ID,’” said Palestinian-American doctor Jiab Suleiman, the medical mission lead at Rahma, a US-based humanitarian organization, referring to Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, the Israeli agency that manages policy for the Palestinian territories and the flow of aid into the strip.

“It’s very upsetting, annoying and disturbing to deny someone entry to a war zone to do a mission just because of the fact that they’re by genetics Palestinian.”

“I stopped recruiting or encouraging any Palestinian physician worldwide to come help, I just can’t recruit them because I lose a slot,” Suleiman added. “Even if it’s just one doctor or one nurse, I lose a slot knowing that they’re going to be denied and I need every single body, every physician to go into Gaza.”

CNN reported that the change in policy came after Israel’s May deadly ground offensive into Rafah, during which it seized control of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza and destroyed the Palestinian side.

Medical aid groups that relied on the Rafah crossing for entry into Gaza have been forced instead to use Karm Abu Salem– a crossing previously used for commercial goods – to get from Israel into southern Gaza.

In an email sent by a WHO regional office to CNN, teams were told that the new COGAT policy stated that anyone with Palestinian background or roots would be denied border crossing through karm Abu Salem.

“We reiterate that we strongly advise against any attempt of entering Gaza with a Palestinian background/roots,” the email stated.

Another WHO email sent a few days later explained that rejections could also be simply due to ancestry, such as having “parents or grandparents who were born or formerly established in Palestine, with or even without Palestinian ID.”

“We are having HUGE problems with this, as COGAT keeps rejecting many people for this reason,” the email said.

According to the report, in one WHO document from early June detailing updated guidance, aid groups were told that “it is not recommended that staff with dual citizenship (Palestinian) enter Gaza due to issues with permits.”

When asked about its new policy, COGAT told CNN in a statement that efforts were being made to bring in medical teams and replacement personnel for hospitals. It did not directly address the question of whether medics with Palestinian roots were barred entry, but said, “Israel enables the international community to bring in medical teams with foreign workers subject to security considerations.”

Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian-American doctor from Chicago who went on a medical trip to Gaza in January, was in Cairo preparing for another trip in May when Israel seized the Rafah crossing, blocking humanitarian and medical aid groups from entering.

“I find it so heartbreaking and tragic that any connection to the land is used against healthcare workers trying to help,” said Ahmad, who walked out of a White House meeting with Muslim community leaders in April in protest of the Biden administration’s support of the war. “To be deprived of being able to put my skills to use for my people, at the height of their suffering and pain is especially cruel.”

The Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) told CNN it now requires applicants to disclose whether they have a Palestinian ID or roots, a move it says it has been forced to make.

“Because of the limited amount of seats that we have, we can’t risk it,” said Dr. Mustafa Musleh, the president of PAMA. “It is not necessarily something that we want, and we really prefer not to do that. But I don’t think we have a choice at this point.”

“Your hands are tied, and you feel hopeless,” Suleiman lamented. “I don’t understand these people, how they decide to do this to someone that’s just going in for two weeks to serve the purpose of helping people.”