JERICHO (Ma'an) -- Israeli soldiers deployed at the Zaytoun checkpoint east of Jerusalem turned away a mother and child with a medical permit to enter the city, on the grounds that the 18-month-old child was not her legitimate son.
Soldiers told Umm Mohammed that her son Mohammad Kahlil Abu Dahuk was in fact a Gaza resident, and could not enter Jerusalem for treatment at the Makassed Hospital, where he was referred for blood work.
Umm Mohammed is a West Bank resident living in Jericho, where her infant son was being treated for a blood disorder at the Jericho Government Hospital.
The Abu Dahud family told Ma'an on Thursday, shortly after the mother and child were refused access to the hospital, that they were refused entry for no reason. Mohammed, his mother said, was registered on her own identity card, being to young to receive his own.
"He has been on the records since he was born," his father said, condemning the border guards who turned his wife away.
Head of Jericho hospital Naser A’nani confirmed that he had referred the child to the hospital and filed the necessary paperwork for a medical permit to be issued. He said the child needed to see a specialist, and referred him to the larger hospital in Jerusalem.
A spokesman for the Israeli border guards, who operate the checkpoint, said he would look into the claim in the coming days.
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