Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHR-Israel) has just published a new report stating that “at least 438 sick Gazan medical patients have been summoned for interrogations by Israel’s General Security Services (GSS) — otherwise also known as Shin Bet, or Shabak — at Erez Crossing into and out of Israel, as a precondition for the review of their applications for an exit permit for the purpose of accessing medical treatment outside of the Strip, between January 2008 and March 2009.
That is, the patients must come for an “interview” with the feared Shin Bet even before their application for an exit permit for medical treatment is even examined.
According to PHR-Israel, this policy of interrogation of sick patients began in August 2007 – about six weeks after the Hamas rout of Fatah security forces in Gaza in mid-June 2007.
The data collected by PHR-Israel “points to [a recent] increase in the ratio of the number of interrogations to the total number of applications submitted to the authorities at Erez Crossing”,
meaning that more sick and ill Palestinian patients have been interrogated recently, and forced to provide information, as a precondition to exit Gaza for medical care.