Israel SC temporarily suspends government's plan to repatriate Palestinian patients in hospitals

The Israeli Supreme Court has ordered to temporarily halt the Netanyahu-led government’s plan to repatriate over two dozen Palestinian patients in Israeli hospitals to war-struck Gaza.

The Supreme Court heard a petition filed by the non-profit organisation ‘Physicians for Human Rights Israel’ and ruled that sending back the Palestinians, many of whom are infants and their mothers should be put on hold. The government’s decision was “deliberately risking innocent lives”, the organisation’s spokesperson Ran Yaron was quoted as saying in a CNN report.

As some patients were to begin boarding the bus on Thursday morning, the Supreme Court, issued a temporary order to prevent the Israeli government from sending around 22 Palestinian patients and their families back to Gaza.

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The decision by Supreme Court prompted the Israeli government to delay the decision to send back patients until at least Monday.

“Returning residents to Gaza during a military conflict and a humanitarian crisis is against international law and poses a deliberate risk to innocent lives,” Yaron said. “All the more so when it concerns patients who may face a death sentence due to insanitary conditions and hunger, along with the unlikely availability of medical care,” he added.

What was Israeli government planning to do?

Around two dozen Palestinians arrived at hospitals in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for medical treatment, most of whom came before Hamas attack began in Israel. The hospitals were recently being compelled by COGAT, the defense ministry body for Palestinian matters, to give names of ’treated’ patients who were to be sent back to Gaza.

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Though the Israeli government had said it would have coordinated the return with international aid organisations, current conditions in Gaza are nothing short of ‘apocalyptic’.

The Gaza Strip has been facing a dire humanitarian crisis with severe shortages of basic necessities. Around 1.1 million Gazans are facing ‘catastrophic’ levels of food shortages, with fear of famine-related deaths looming over the war-struck region, a UN-backed report said.