Amnesty: The Israeli storming of Maqasid hospital is barbaric
- Posted Category : News Reports
- 27 July 2017
Amnesty International criticised the Israeli police raids on Palestinian hospital, which occurred twice in the past week, instilling fear in the employees and the patients. They said that in some instances the raids prevented doctors from providing emergency medical care to critically injured patients. The raids were carried out on “Maqasid Hospital”, east of Jerusalem. This comes with mounting tension in Jerusalem and all of the West Bank after a decision by the Israeli government to place metal detectors and to search worshippers at the entrance of the blessed Al Aqsa Mosque. Four Palestinian civilians were martyred and more than one thousand and ninety innocent civilians were wounded at the hands of the Israeli police force and army in the past ten days during the protests.
Magdalena Maghraby, deputy head of regional issues in the Middle East and North Africa of Amnesty International, said that: “The violent actions and raids by the Israeli forces on Maqasid Hospital and their harassment and terrorisation of employees and patients is an absolutely unfortunate matter. It is impossible to justify the prevention of medical workers from carrying out their duties in caring for critically injured patients”.
Eyewitnesses in Maqasid Hospital described the scenes of “overwhelming chaos” caused by the raids conducted by the Israeli army and policemen on the hospital facilities on the 17th and 21st July. It was also clear that they chased those who were critically injured.
Dr. Rafiq Husainy, head of Maqasid Hospital, informed Amnesty International that between 20 to 30 heavily-armed border guards and police raided the hospital in the late hours of July 17th. “They harassed the employees and behaved aggressively. They did not conform to any basic regulations, entering the hospital carrying their machine guns and sound bombs. They terrorised the employees and other patients”.
Dr. Bassam Abu Lubdah, medical manager of the hospital, described how the army pursued a 19-year-old youngster from Sulwan. He was injured in his thigh with damage to the artery. As his blood was pouring, “they began chasing him to all corners of the hospital like hungry dogs chasing prey”, according to him. He added: “They were heavily-armed with long weapons. They were carrying sound bombs. They were aggressively pushing to the right and left anyone they encountered in their path. They began chasing an injured youngster who was admitted to the operating theatre”, He later passed away. His name was Muhammad Abu Ghannam.
Talal Sayyid, head of the reception team at the hospital, spoke about the hospital raid by 200 heavily-armed soldiers, their surrounding of the hospital and storming into it. “They even entered the neonatal unit, What did they want from there? It was really frightening for the patients”.
Magdalena Maghraby said that Israel “by virtue of it being the occupying power, holds the responsibility of protecting Palestinian civilians. It should respect their rights during peaceful protest. It also has to guarantee compliance by its forces, when using power, to international law”.
Al Jazeera
All opinions and comments displayed do not necessarily represent the official opinion of the website, but they represent the view of the writer