Israel blocking 11 American doctors, nurses from leaving Gaza

According to Middle East Eye, a group of medical personnel from the United States were authorised by Israel to enter Gaza on 9 January last year until their planned departure on 22 January this year. That group revealed that Tel Aviv denied their exit, however, with Israeli forces claiming that an “incident” had occurred at a security checkpoint.

One doctor from the group is quoted as saying that the only significant incident at the time that they are aware of was Israeli forces shooting Palestinians as they made their way back south to their homes in Rafah. However, the Occupation forces did not specify the alleged incident, which has not yet been made public.

The group of doctors was even ordered by Israel not to move to that southern area to leave the besieged territory “due to certain operational considerations that are currently in consideration regarding the activities on these days”, leaving them stranded in northern Gaza.

They may reportedly be able to leave on Sunday, according to members of the group who have been informed by Occupation forces regarding their process, but their ordeal comes at a time when another team of doctors from the same organisation ‘Rahma’ are being prevented from entering Gaza – again due to an alleged “incident” – forcing them to return to Jordan.