Israel Blocking Medical Aid Workers With Palestinian Heritage From Entering Gaza

There’s nothing to say about this anymore, really. It is what it is.

This is just a news update.

CNN:

Palestinian-American doctor Jiab Suleiman arrived in Jordan last month ahead of an emergency medical mission into Gaza, which he was due to oversee. The Ohio-born orthopedic surgeon had already led two trips into the besieged strip since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October and was finalizing details for his third.

But his preparation would ultimately be for nothing. The day before the team was set to cross into Gaza, Suleiman received notice that he had been denied entry by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, the Israeli agency that manages policy for the Palestinian territories and the flow of aid into the strip.

Suleiman’s denial is part of a policy recently communicated to medical missions going into Gaza through Israel. The restrictions block the entry of US healthcare workers, and those of other nationalities, if they are of Palestinian origin or have Palestinian heritage, according to internal memos from the World Health Organization (WHO) obtained by CNN.

Jiab Suleiman distributing food.

CNN reviewed WHO internal memos from early June describing the extent of what they call Israel’s new policy, in which aid groups were advised against bringing medical professionals with a Palestinian background – even if only through a parent or grandparent – on mission trips.

“They said ‘you’re denied because of your Palestinian ID,’” said Suleiman, the medical mission lead at Rahma, a US-based humanitarian organization, referring to COGAT. “It’s very upsetting, annoying and disturbing to deny someone entry to a war zone to do a mission just because of the fact that they’re by genetics Palestinian.”

You should not forget what is happening to the Palestinians, because it’s your government that’s doing it.