A Palestinian woman trapped on Al-Tuffah checkpoint, the only passage leading to Al-Mawassi, west of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, gave birth to a dead infant, after soldiers barred the ambulance from crossing.
A medical source at Nasser Medical Compound in Khan Younis, reported that Ibtisam Al-Lahham, 37, was pregnant in her sixth month when she felt extreme pain; as the ambulance was transferring her to the medical compound, soldiers barred it ambulance transferring her to the hospital from crossing “for security reasonsâ€Â.
Soldiers claimed that the checkpoint is closed, and any crossing should be previously coordinated with them.
The Public Relations Office, at Nasser Medical Compound, said that this is the third case on the same checkpoint since the beginning of the Intifada.
Meanwhile, field researches of the Palestinian Center for Human rights said that eight infants died on military checkpoints in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Intifada.
The center condemned the Israeli procedures which violate the basic principles of human rights and the international law.
Residents of Al-Mawassi are facing daily hardships on Al-Tuffah checkpoint as a result of the harsh procedures imposed on the checkpoint restriction their movement.
Residents of Al-Mawassi depend on Khan Younis in their daily needs, but the military closure and harsh procedures on the checkpoint bars the residents from crossing which increases their suffering and trolley blocks them from the surrounding areas.
