Palestinian boy has been in the West Bank since 2022 but is still registered as a resident in the strip where ban applies
An Israeli court has rejected an appeal to allow a five-year-old Palestinian boy with an aggressive form of cancer to enter Israel for life-saving treatment, citing a government policy that bars residents registered in Gaza from crossing the border, even when they no longer live there.
In a ruling issued on Sunday, the Jerusalem district court dismissed a petition seeking permission to transfer the child from Ramallah to Tel HaShomer hospital near Tel Aviv for a bone marrow transplant – a procedure unavailable in either Gaza or the occupied West Bank. The boy has been in the West Bank since 2022 where he was receiving medical care unavailable in the Gaza Strip. His doctors have determined that he urgently requires antibody immunotherapy.
The decision reflects Israel’s sweeping ban on the entry of people living in Gaza after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, including cancer patients who, before the war, had routinely been granted access to life-saving treatment in Jerusalem.
“I have lost my last hope,” the child’s mother told Haaretz, describing the ruling as a death sentence for her son. She said the boy’s father died of cancer three years ago.
