Palestinian dumped by Israelis at checkpoint for exhibiting coronavirus symptoms

A Palestinian labourer suffering from coronavirus symptoms was found dumped by Israeli authorities at the Beit Sira checkpoint that connects Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Footage recorded by 25-year-old Ibrahim Abu Safiya who found him “dumped like trash,” has gone viral on social media. It shows the Palestinian labourer who works in Israel lying near the checkpoint, causing people to express their outrage over the treatment of the worker.

Widespread condemnation of inhumane Israeli treatment of this Palestinian worker. He was dumped on the side of the road by an Israeli military checkpoint near Ramallah after his Israeli employer suspected he could have #coronavirus. Malek is now receiving proper care.@ilo pic.twitter.com/qFR9xhE606

— PLO Department of International Relations (@PalestinePDP) March 24, 2020

https://twitter.com/TanyaShami/status/1242249396890136576

Zero respect for human life and dignity: Israeli occupation forces expel an ill Palestinian worker from #Israel after suspecting he might have #covid19 and leave him lying on the side of a road in west #Ramallah for three hours! #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/uTAwcyYsAd

— Mohammad Alqadi ⭐️ (@ALQadiPAL) March 23, 2020

According to the Middle East Eye (MEE), Abu Safiya recounted the man was “thrown on the ground and left,” over suspicion of him being infected with coronavirus.

“How could they do this to someone?” he asked, adding:

It shouldn’t matter if he’s Palestinian, Israeli, or whatever. He’s a human being.

The worker was later picked up by Palestinian health workers and rushed to the National Hospital of Nablus where his COVID-19 test was negative, reported Wafa News Agency.

Despite his shock at seeing a sick man being “left to die” at a checkpoint, Abu Safiya said he wasn’t surprised by the incident.

“This is the true face of the Israeli occupation,” he told MEE, adding:

They kill us on a daily basis, so this isn’t any different for them.

Read: Palestinian shoemaker behind West Bank’s only mask factory

In response, Palestinian government spokesman Ibrahim Milhem today in his daily briefing condemned the “the racist and inhumane” treatment of the Israeli authorities and employers when dealing with its Palestinian workers.

He said, “If you have to work for a living, then let it be with dignity, and not in this demeaning way.”

“We are doing everything we can to get our workers not to accept work in Israel under these difficult circumstances, and not to throw themselves into these incubators of this pandemic in order to guarantee their safety and the safety of their families and community,” he added.

Read: Hamas calls on PA to lift Gaza sanctions to prevent spread of coronavirus