Guilty Israel, Every Day, Every Hour

Israeli Security Forces Prevent a Patient from Reaching a Hospital and Hit an On-Duty Member of the Red Crescent



PHR-Israel discovered a contradiction between the testimony of a Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulance driver and the official Israeli Defense Force Spokesperson's statement in
regards to an urgent evacuation of an individual injured by the Israeli security forces in the Tul Karem Refugee Camp. The driver testified that at the entrance to the hospital in Tul Karem, while he
was trying to move the patient, who was on a stretcher, to the hospital, Israeli soldiers ordered him to place the patient back inside the ambulance and to follow them to the Israeli DCO. He
additionally testified that one of the soldiers had hit him repeatedly.

In his testimony to PHR-Israel Mahmud Alkarmi, a PRCS ambulance driver from Tul Karem, said that: "On 30 January at 2am we received a call to evacuate Rami Tabin, who was shot by Israeli
soldiers in front of his home in Tul Karem Refugee Camp. My ambulance entered the camp with no army interference, even though I had noticed army vehicles in the vicinity. I proceeded to
administer first aid and evacuate Tabin. On my way out of the camp there was again no delay. We arrived at the hospital at approximately 2:20 am and began to remove the stretcher from the
ambulance in the hospital courtyard. Suddenly an army jeep arrived in the compound and soldiers began to shoot indiscriminately. The driver of the jeep got out and began to hit and curse me,
while shouting, 'Why didn't you stop? We called for you to stop'".

The soldiers then ordered Alkarmi to follow their jeep to the Israeli DCO in Tul Karem and would not allow him to move the patient into the hospital, although he protested that the patient is in
urgent need of treatment. At one point the soldier told him: "Close the door [of the ambulance] and follow me or I'll kill you here". Reaching the Israeli DCO, again the driver of the jeep hit and
cursed Alkarmi.

When they arrived, a uniformed doctor helped Alkarmi treat the patient. While they were treating the injuries the Israeli jeep driver demanded that Alkarmi step out of the ambulance so that he
could search the vehicle. After ransacking the ambulance and finding nothing, the driver ordered another soldier to perform a second search but that soldier refused.

Eventually, says Alkarmi, a soldier he thinks to be the commander arrived and began to interrogate both him and Tabin, disregarding Tabin’s situation and while the Israeli doctor was still
attending to him. After that, "a Magen David Adom ambulance was requested and Tabin was evacuated, escorted by two soldiers. They did not tell me to where they were taking him.”

"I complained to the elder soldier [the commander] about the blows I received from the driver of the jeep and he told me he would take care of it. I told him that I know that he won't take care of it
and that he is just trying to get rid of me."

The injured man's family requested that PHR-Israel try to locate Tabin. Following an inquiry to the army PHR-Israel was informed that Tabin is hospitalized in Hillel Yafe Hospital in Hadera, Israel.
PHR-Israel has no further information regarding his condition or the reason he was shot.

Alkarmi’s testimony contradicts the official statement given by the IDF Spokesperson's Unit on its website, where it claims that the man was treated in the field and then transferred to an Israeli
hospital to receive treatment.

This incident reveals, yet again, the lack of respect on the side of Israeli army to medical personnel and services by not allowing Tabin to be treated in the hospital even though he was already at
the entrance, and by hitting the ambulance driver. Medical treatment should in no way be compromised by investigation needs.

PHR-Israel demands that the matter be investigated and that the soldiers involved be made to stand trial. Additionally, PHR-Israel insists upon an explanation for the shooting of Tabin, who was,
as far as PHR-Israel is informed, sitting in front of his house at the time of the shooting.

PHR-Israel sent an appeal to the Military Advocate General and a copy to the Israeli Medical Association.

PHR-Israel will keep you updated as to the response of the Israeli Authorities to this case.



For more information please contact Hadas Ziv, Director Occupied Territories Project, or Shabtai Gold, Public Outreach.



Physicians for Human Rights–Israel (PHR–Israel) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization founded in 1988 and
currently comprising some 750 members, with the aim of striving to promote medical human rights in Israel and in the territories
under Israel’s effective control. The basic values of PHR–Israel are human dignity, protection of bodily and mental integrity, and
promotion of the right to health and medical care.

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