Human Rights Groups Petition Israel’s High Court: Immediately Allow Medical Evacuations from Gaza to the West Bank and East Jerusalem
Five human rights organizations – Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), Gisha, HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, Adalah, and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) – filed a petition on 20 November 2025 to the High Court of Justice demanding that Israel immediately resume the evacuation of patients from the Gaza Strip for lifesaving treatment in hospitals in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
According to the petition, approximately 16,500 Gaza residents, many of them women, children, and elderly individuals, are currently at risk of death because the medical care they urgently need is not available in the Strip. The organizations stress that Gaza’s healthcare system has been decimated since the outbreak of the war, while Israel, which controls the crossings and holds exclusive authority to permit medical evacuations, continues to block access to essential treatment.
The petition describes the near-total collapse of Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure. Two-thirds of the 647 medical facilities that operated in Gaza before October 2023 are now out of service; only three hospitals are currently functioning at full capacity, and the number of hospital beds has fallen sharply from 3,500 to just 1,952 for a population of 2.1 million. Critical services such as chemotherapy, advanced imaging, intensive care, oncology surgery, and pediatric treatment are largely unavailable. More than 11,000 cancer patients lack access to medication and vital equipment, with 75 percent of chemotherapy drugs completely unavailable. The petition notes that the harsh living conditions of hundreds of thousands of displaced residents living in tents – coupled with widespread injuries, infectious diseases, and untreated chronic illnesses – create a reality in which every day of delay in evacuation poses a direct and immediate threat to life.
“A system that simply cannot save lives” – Medical expert testimonies
The petition is supported by expert medical affidavits. Dr. Keren Lebanon, an oncology specialist and PHRI volunteer, emphasizes that without rapid and continuous treatment “the chances of recovering from cancer – or even reaching a reasonable life expectancy – are dramatically reduced.” Dr. Jeffrey Goldhagen, President of the International Society for Social Pediatrics and Child Health, explains that thousands of children require urgent treatment unavailable in Gaza, resulting in irreversible harm with every passing day: “These are preventable deaths, nothing less.”
Evacuation to third countries is failing—and patients continue to die
Since the closure of the Rafah crossing in May 2024, the mechanism for evacuating patients to third countries, such as Egypt, Turkey, the UAE and others is faltering. Despite overwhelming medical need, only about 2,933 patients have been evacuated since the closure. In recent months, the numbers have been extremely low, sometimes only a few dozen per month, while thousands wait. According to the petition, the long, dangerous, and medically incompatible journey leads to severe deterioration and even deaths en route. For many patients, especially children and oncology cases, evacuation to third countries is not a viable option, and leaving them in Gaza effectively amounts to a death sentence.
Hospitals in East Jerusalem and the West Bank: An immediate and viable lifeline
The petition emphasizes that the safest and most effective solution lies just a short distance away, less than an hour’s drive from Gaza, at Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Before the war, these hospitals served as Gaza’s primary referral centers for complex cases; between 2019 and 2021, approximately 57 percent of all Gaza patients requiring external treatment were referred there. Augusta Victoria Hospital, with 170 beds and advanced oncology services, treated nearly 40 percent of Gaza’s referred patients before the war. Alongside it operate Al-Makassed Hospital, the Red Crescent Maternity Hospital, Princess Basma Rehabilitation Center, and several hospitals across the West Bank, all of which have confirmed that they are prepared to immediately admit significant numbers of patients across various medical fields, providing a stable and long-term treatment pathway independent of foreign intermediaries.
The petition argues that Israel is obligated under both Israeli and international law to ensure access to medical treatment for the population under its effective control, in line with previous High Court rulings. The petitioners state that Israel is violating its legal duty to protect civilian lives and prevent avoidable loss of life, particularly given that it maintains full control over the movement of patients out of Gaza. “This is not a political or security matter – it is a basic obligation to save human lives. The suffering, severe harm, and deaths of patients in Gaza are not inevitable; they are the direct result of a policy that can be changed with the stroke of a pen,” the petition concludes.
Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/FLASH90
