Gaza Herald – At least 89 Palestinian patients from Gaza, along with their companions, currently receiving medical treatment in Jerusalem hospitals, are facing imminent forced deportation by Israeli authorities.
The deportation order, which targets patients at al-Makassed and Augusta Victoria (al-Muttala’) Hospitals, is scheduled to commence at 5:00 a.m. on Monday, with buses escorted by Israeli military vehicles. Authorities have not provided any clarity on the patients’ destination.
Human rights organizations have raised urgent concerns, noting that many of the patients—some of them children and severely ill—had been evacuated before the war and cannot return safely to Gaza, where 94% of hospitals have been damaged or destroyed. The Israeli plan risks triggering serious medical complications, endangering patients during transit, and worsening the suffering of already vulnerable civilians.
On-the-ground reports indicate that while some patients have consented to return out of fear or a lack of alternatives, others will be forcibly transferred—an act constituting a grave breach of international law amid what experts are calling an ongoing genocide. Families are fearful of returning to a territory with no functioning healthcare system, no electricity, and dire medical shortages.
The World Health Organization has confirmed that the Israeli military requested its assistance in coordinating the transfer next week. This raises immediate concerns regarding patient safety, the continuity of medical care, and the legality of forcibly deporting the sick in the midst of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
