The Shin Bet Israel’s internal intelligence started recently to ask Gaza patients who need to enter the occupied Palestinian territories for medical treatment to hand over their cellphones during their interviews as a condition for allowing them in.
Two cancer patients from Gaza said Shin Bet officers asked them to return to Gaza after they said they had no cellphones and later after that they received notices confirming their requests for travel were rejected.
Physicians for Human Rights said that it was able to gather testimonies from several patients affirming that the Israeli army and the Shin Bet asked for cellphones to be handed in order to use them for intelligence-related purposes.
The human rights group accused Israel of exploiting the suffering of Gaza patients many times before saying it was not the first time the Shin Bet tried to gather intelligence from cellphones of patients in exchange for medical treatment.
