Report by Mustafa Barghouthi

Beit Hanina - Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, president of the Palestinian Medical Relief Committees and the director of the Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute (HDIP), gave a press conference, via the telephone, in which he gave a detailed description of the Israeli violations of health conventions on prohibiting medical provision. He reiterated that, since the 29th of March, the beginning of the latest Israeli military campaign in Palestinian territories, the number of Palestinians killed has reached 250. The total number of those killed since the beginning of the current Intifada has exceeded 1,500, and the number of injured has reached 33,000.

The past ten days abuses can be categorised in five main themes:

Prevention of medical treatment for sick and wounded
Attacks on medical personnel
Attacks on the medical infrastructure
Attack on utilities and related environmental problems
Total destruction of infrastructure

Prevention of medical treatment for sick and wounded Israel has systematically prohibited the provision of medical services in order to paralyze the health system and the ability of ambulances to function, aiming to increase the number of dead people by leaving the injured unattended till they bleed to death.

In Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem, and Ramallah dozens of injured were left unattended as medical teams were prohibited from reaching them; they were left to die.