Amnesty protests as Israel shuts down Palestinian health organization
Israel has previously accused employees of the Palestinian Health Work Committees of links to a Palestinian terror group.
The Israeli army’s recent shutdown of a health organization in the West Bank will have “catastrophic consequences” on Palestinian health care, Amnesty International said Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Israeli forces raided the Ramallah office of the Palestinian Health Work Committees (HWC), breaking down the door and confiscating computers and memory drives. According to the rights group, the office was ordered to close for six months.
Israel has previously accused the health organization's employees of links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Israel, the United States and European Union consider a terrorist organization. Last month, one of HWC’s Palestinian fundraisers was accused of diverting European donations to the PFLP and was indicted in an Israeli military court.
“The Health Work Committees is one of the main providers of health services in the occupied Palestinian territories, running hospitals and health clinics and providing medical care to marginalized communities,” Saleh Higazi, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa said.
