Palestinian dies in an ambulance waiting to access hospital in Israel

On 21 May 2007, the family of Muhammad Mansour approached Palestinian human rights NGOs seeking help with ensuring referral of Muhammad to a hospital in Israel.
He was injured from bullets in the leg during the infighting between Hamas and Fatah last week, and has since been receiving intensive medical care at Shifa hospital.
Medical teams notified the family he was in a critical condition and must be referred to a hospital in Israel as fast as possible.
They added that he could not wait in an ambulance for more than two hours.
If he stayed longer, he would die, doctors told the family.
He was granted permission from the Israeli military on 22 May 2007.
However, after waiting for one hour at Erez Crossing, the ambulance was returned to Gaza upon the military orders.
The family was notified he could pass to Israel yesterday and an ambulance lifted him from Shifa hospital to Erez.
He was made to wait for four hours during which he passed away.
This is not the only case of Palestinian patients die at Erez because of delays.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights condemns the denial of access of a patient in critical condition to healthcare.
The IOF were duly notified that time was a crucial concern and the victim would die if not allowed access to hospital fast.
But he was treated like other Palestinians seeking healthcare in Israel and made to wait for a relatively very long time at the crossing point.
The IOF bears the responsibility for the death of Muhammad at Erez crossing.
His life could have been saved if he was granted access on time.
He did not pose any threat given the condition he was in at the time and was actually granted permission to enter Israel.
The Center therefore calls for an independent investigation in the circumstances that led to his death and for bring to justice all the individuals responsible for it.
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