World Health Organization (WHO) revealed on Monday that Israel’s so-called Coordination and Liaison Administration delayed in May half of the requests submitted by Gazan patients seeking treatment in the hospitals of the 1948 occupied Palestinian territories.
Haaretz newspaper reported based on a WHO report that of 2282 applications for permits to exit Gaza submitted in May 47.2% were approved 2.1% were rejected and 50.7% were delayed with no explanation causing the patients to miss their appointments for examinations.
Among those delayed were 255 children under the age of 18 years and 141 patients aged 60 years or older the report noted.
The paper pointed out that in April 39% of the requests were delayed which means that 776 patients including 178 children and 93 patients over the age of 60 were not able to leave the besieged enclave. The requests often belong to those who had previously received exit permits for treatment.
WHO affirmed that the approval rate of patients’ permit applications fell from 92.5% in 2012 to 62.1% in 2016.
According to Haaretz all those seeking permissions to exit the Gaza Strip through Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing are patients whom the Palestinian Authority has allowed to leave Gaza and to whom it has pledged to cover the costs.
