Israel Has Denied The Entry Of At Least Four American Health Professionals And Dozens More Foreign Medical Workers For Humanitarian Missions In The Gaza Strip.
That is despite the ceasefire that came into effect in October, it was reported on Monday.
One of those denied entry is Feroze Sidhwa, an American trauma surgeon based in California, who has already completed two missions in the besieged enclave, working at hospitals to treat Palestinians injured in Israel’s genocidal military campaign launched in October 2023.
Sidhwa, who has spoken publicly about what he experienced in Gaza, including in testimony to the UN Security Council in May, said that he was informed just a few hours before he was scheduled to leave for Gaza from Jordan last month that his name was not on Israel’s approved list of foreigners to enter Gaza.
The 43-year-old trauma surgeon told the Washington Post that he does not know whether his public testimony about the military onslaught on Gaza affected Israel’s decision as no reason was given for the denial. The paper said Israeli officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The American brokered ceasefire “had promised a surge in humanitarian assistance”, the paper stated, “as tens of thousands of Palestinians still suffer from life-changing wounds.
OVER 3.5M MEDICAL CONSULTATIONS
Sidhwa’s mission would have entailed performed complex surgeries on wounded Palestinians and teaching local doctors “news and safety techniques” for them to carry out the surgeries themselves, the paper stated. The surgeon is considering taking his case to the Israeli Supreme Court next year, it noted.
According to the WHO, the paper reported, more than 3.5 million medical consultations and mover 50,000 emergency surgeries have been performed by international medical volunteers who have been “rotating in and out of Gaza on short term missions.”
Citing a UN official who spoke anonymously, the paper also noted that before the ceasefire took effect, Israel denied entry “to more than a third of those who’d made it through a preapproval process on average.”
Even though the rejection has dropped since the ceasefire, the UN official added, about 20 percent of those seeking entry to volunteer are denied permission at the 11th hour.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Another medical professional who has been denied entry twice over the past week and a half is John Kahler, a pediatrician and co-founder of MedGlobal, a Chicago-based nonprofit, the paper reported. He “had planned to assess the needs of the thousands of child amputees, to help set up a new rehabilitation project,” the report stated.
A British plastic surgeon, Victoria Rose, who has been to Gaza thrice during Israel’s military campaign over the past two years, was also rejected for the third time last week. Rose has spoken out about treating victims of the mass shootings of aid seekers linked to the controversial, now disbanded, American and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
She told the paper: “I definitely think the denials are due to the fact that we’ve spoken out.”
However, Nor Rizek, a nurse from Arizona said there was “no reason or rhyme” for her having been denied entry last month. Rizek said she has not engaged in much advocacy publicly or on social media.
Rizek, who worked in an emergency room in northern Gaza earlier this year, said Palestinians “have been exhausted, drained and physically and mentally beat for the past two years.” Therefore, she continued, “allowing in foreign nurses and doctors, the few of us who are allowed in, doesn’t even scratch the surface.”
MINIMAL FUNCTIONING HOSPITALS
Mohammed Subeh, another American emergency room physician, who was denied entry last week, said that he had planned to assist at a Gaza City field hospital that is attending to hundreds of patients daily.
A spokesman for America’s Central Command (CENTCOM) declined to comment about the denial of entry for health workers, the paper said.
According to the WHO, only 14 out of 36 hospitals are partially functioning, while more than 16,500 Palestinians in Gaza are in urgent need of medical care not available in the enclave.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israel has killed 376 Palestinians and injured 981 more since the ceasefire came into effect. The total death toll since October 7th, 2023, has risen to 70,365, in addition to 171,058 injuries.
Hidden History -- In The Making 