WHO: Israel Strips, Searches And Holds Medical Officers In Gaza

PHOTO @WHO via UN

JAKARTA - The World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that medical officers in the Gaza Strip are facing pressure from Israel in carrying out humanitarian missions in the trapped Palestinian territories.

"The WHO staff saw one of them (Palestinian Red Crescent People's staff/PRCS) being asked to get on their knees while being held at gunpoint and then taken to a closed place. There he was harassed, beaten, stripped and searched," WHO said as quoted by ANTARA from the UN website, Wednesday, December 13.

WHO representatives in the Palestinian occupied territories, Richard Peeperkorn, revealed that medics in the Gaza Strip faced obstacles in carrying out missions as Israeli soldiers inspected medical staff at checkpoints.

Two PRCS staff, who were on their way to northern Gaza, were detained for more than an hour by the Israeli army, Peeperkorn said.

"No medical officers should be detained," said Peeperkorn.

The WHO also revealed aid trucks carrying medical supplies and one of the ambulances carrying patients from Al-Ahli Hospital were shot while entering Gaza City and on their way back to southern Gaza.

"The medical convoy was again stopped at the same checkpoint, where PRCS staff and most patients were required to leave the ambulance for security checks," the WHO said.

The WHO revealed that critical patients who were still in the ambulance were searched by armed soldiers.

One of the two PRCS staff detained was brought in for questioning for the second time. this makes humanitarian missions and aid distribution in Gaza go very slowly.

"PRCS then reported that during the transfer process, one of the injured patients died from his wound not being treated immediately," the WHO said.

Meanwhile, a PRCS staff member who was detained admitted that he was beaten and humiliated, then allowed to walk south with his hands tied behind his back, and without clothes or shoes.