sunday, 26.04.2009, 10:32pm (GMT)
Israel is extorting information about resistance groups in the Gaza Strip from Palestinian patients in exchange for medical treatment, Hamas claims.
Hamas Health Minister Dr. Bassem Naim on Sunday claimed that Tel Aviv is providing medical treatment to Palestinian patients in exchange for intelligence about the resistance operatives and figures in Gaza, Ynet reported Sunday.
Naim made the remarks in a meeting with a Scottish delegation who brought medical supplies and drug contributions to the besieged strip.
He said patients who refused to cooperate were not allowed to cross over for treatment in Israel. Sick Palestinians are questioned for hours in the sun before being subjected to a humiliating physical search, Naim told the Scotts.
He also accused the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank city of Ramallah of collaborating with Israel and exacerbating the long-running blockade on the coastal territory.
Hamas has long accused Abbas-led Fatah of cooperating with Israel to intensify the Gaza blockade.
Last year, prior to the Israeli onslaught, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that "The Gaza blockade is a Zionist-American siege being imposed on the Gazans by the will of Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas and through the contribution of Arab countries to Israel."
The Gaza Strip has been under a tight Israeli blockade which has been in place for over 22 months, even during Tel Aviv's three-week war on the region.
Some 324 Palestinian patients have reportedly died because they were denied access to medical treatment in Israel.
SB/MD/MMN
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