High Court orders State to reexamine its decision not to allow seven gravely ill Palestinians from Gaza entry into Israel or passage to West Bank, Jordan to receive life-saving treatment.

Na'al al-Kurdi, 21, from Gaza is dying of cancer; for the past four months Na'al has been waiting for a permit from the State of Israel to enter the country in order to receive medical care in one of its hospitals. This permit has not been granted so far due to "security concerns."

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Na'al al-Kurdi. Can't stand up

On Monday the High Court has ordered the State to reexamine its decision regarding the transfer of seven Palestinian patients from Gaza into Israel for treatment, and issue a decision on the matter within one week.

The High Court's ruling came following a petition by Physicians for Human Rights filed last week. Some of the organization's members said they were astonished by the state's refusal to allow people in critical condition to enter Israel on the pretense that they posed a security threat.

The group petitioned the court last Thursday and requested that 11 patients in critical condition be allowed entry into Israel, or passage to the West Bank or Jordan in order to receive life-saving treatment there.

On Monday morning, shortly before the High Court handed down its ruling on the petition, the Shin Bet declared it would allow four of the 11 patients entry into the country.

'Can't even stand up'

One of those whose entry has been banned is Na'al, who suffers from a carcinogenic tumor in his testicles. Na'al has undergone chemotherapy at the Shifa hospital in Gaza, but last July his doctors recommended that he undergo further tests at the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv.

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Na'al in his home in Gaza

However, Na'al has not been able to obtain an entry permit, despite a medical opinion supporting the move from the head of the Radiotherapy Unit at the Wolfson hospital in Holon, Prof Eyal Pfenig.

Recently, Na'al's condition has deteriorated, and several days ago his doctors found secondary growths in his liver and diagnosed him with cholestatic injury related to jaundice.

Two other medical opinions by prominent Israeli physicians stated that without urgent treatment, Na'al faces a painful deterioration in his condition that would inevitably lead to his death.

PHR stressed that Na'al could no longer even stand up, let alone walk, and wondered how a man in such state could be branded by the Shin Bet a security risk.