Boycotting Israel, PA to send patients to hospitals in Jordan, Egypt

Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said yesterday that his government had sent delegations to Jordan and Egypt in order to prepare for transferring patients to hospitals abroad, Arab48 reported.

This measure, according to Shtayyeh, is part of his government’s efforts to find alternatives to Israeli hospitals as a result of Israel’s deduction of Palestinian taxes collected on behalf of the PA.

Speaking to Anadolu, the spokesman of the Ministry of Health Osama Al-Najjar said: “The decision is political and it was taken by the Palestinian leadership. It comes in to effect now.”

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He noted that the annual cost of treating patients in Israeli hospitals is $100 million.

Al-Najjar said that the Palestinian Ministry of Health will transferring patients only to Palestinian hospitals in occupied Jerusalem or to medical centres in Jordan and Egypt.

Israel deducted $138 million from the PA’s tax revenues over claims that this amount is paid to Palestinians prisoners and the families of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces. As a result, the PA has refused to accept any funds from Israel, saying all the funds owed to it should be transferred without deductions.