Health Minister says sick child in ambulance attacked by settlers arrived three hours late at intensive care clinic

Minister of Health Mai Alkaila today strongly denounced an attack by Israeli settlers on a Palestinian ambulance last night while transporting a sick child from Jenin to an intensive care unit in Ramallah and said the child arrived at the clinic three hours late.

Alkaila called on international human rights organizations to take this matter seriously, urging action to curb the Israeli occupation forces and settlers from attacking ambulances and health workers who carry out their humanitarian duty towards the sick and wounded.

The Minister condemned the settlers’ attack on the ambulance in the north of the West Bank while it was transporting a 12-year-old sick child who suffers from a difficult health condition from Jenin Government Hospital to the intensive care department at H-Clinic Hospital in Ramallah.

The Ministry of Health said in a statement that the ambulance left Jenin Government Hospital at around 8:45 pm local time, and took detours and off-roads to avoid obstructions at checkpoints and settlers’ attacks on the roads. As it reached Zatara intersection about two hours later, it was hit by rocks thrown by settlers and the ambulance windows were smashed.

The statement added that the sick child, the ambulance crew, and the accompanying doctor were in a state of extreme panic as a result of the settlers’ attack, and the child’s mother, who was accompanying her in the ambulance, was injured in the knee from broken glass.

The ambulance arrived at H-Clinic Hospital in Ramallah more than three hours after it left Jenin Government Hospital, which seriously affects the health of patients whose condition requires an urgent transfer between treatment centers in cities and villages.

The Minister of Health said the occupation forces and settlers commit daily assaults on the Palestinian people and health workers who carry out their humanitarian duty, as ambulances are daily obstructed, delayed and assaulted, adding that several ambulances, treatment centers and medical personnel, were recently targeted by the occupation forces and ambulance crews were prevented from reaching wounded people who were shot during army incursions into cities and villages.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

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