Palestinian Medical Evacuees in Jordan Returned to Gaza Without Prior Warning
Palestinian children and their families receiving medical treatment in Amman were poorly treated by Jordanian authorities and robbed by Israeli border guards.
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* The reporter for this story requested anonymity citing security concerns
A group of Palestinian children evacuated from Gaza to Jordan for medical treatment with family members or caregivers were reportedly returned to Gaza earlier this month by Jordanian authorities without prior warning and had their belongings, including money and jewelry, confiscated by Israeli soldiers, according to multiple sources.
The Palestinian children were evacuated from Gaza as part of an initiative first announced by Jordanian King Abdullah II during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in February. Dubbed the “Jordan Medical Corridor initiative,” Jordan pledged to treat a total of 2,000 child patients from Gaza in successive stages. The patients would receive medical care at private or public hospitals and return to Gaza once treatment was completed. Since March, hundreds of Palestinian children have received treatment in successive batches and have been returned to Gaza.
The Jordanian Armed Forces issued a statement last week announcing that the latest group of 140 child medical evacuees and their family members were returned to Gaza. But reports indicate the group was poorly treated by Jordanian authorities and robbed by Israeli soldiers. A mother of five, who was brought to Jordan on July 15 with her sick four-year-old daughter and another teenage daughter, said Jordanian authorities showed up without warning at their hotel on December 3 and told them they were leaving immediately to Gaza. She spoke to Drop Site News on condition of anonymity citing security concerns.
“We never expected it. It all happened in a second. We were informed that we would be taken back to Gaza, and we had to leave the hotels at once. My daughter had surgery on her eye scheduled on the same day,” she told Drop Site. “I pleaded for them to let her do it. After many pleas, I was allowed a few extra hours to do the surgery before departing Jordan.” She added that although her daughter was fitted for a prosthetic eye, she still needed more time in Jordan for additional treatment.
She said they were not allowed to bring anything with them on the journey. “We couldn’t buy or take anything with us from our belongings—the toys, medicines, and other stuff. All that I could leave with was our documents, my phone, and 400 Jordanian dinars,” she said, adding that after they eventually crossed the Karam Abu Salem crossing into Gaza, Israeli troops took her four-year-old daughter’s winter jacket. “It was taken by the officers, and she kept trembling from the cold until we reached Gaza City and reunited with my husband and other children. It was a nightmarish experience,” she said, choking up as she recounted the experience. “I was lucky, but many families had their money, jewelry, and other things confiscated by the Israeli military on the Israeli side of Karam Abu-Salem.”
An activist in Amman who knew some of the families told Drop Site that Jordanian police arrived with five buses to three hotels housing Palestinian medical evacuees—Al-Fanar, Al-Andalus, and Sophia—on December 3 without prior notice and that the families were devastated by the news. “We’re not sure whether or not all the families had completed their treatment,” added the activist added, who also spoke to Drop Site on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns.
The West Bank Friends Collective, a volunteer group that assists Palestinian evacuees in Amman, also said in a statement that “Jordanian authorities arrived unannounced at their hotel in the early hours of Wednesday morning, bringing five buses and transporting the group directly to the border. Israeli authorities then took over the crossing process. Families reported that the journey was prolonged, with some not reaching Gaza until Thursday evening.” The statement added: “Multiple families also reported that, at the border, money, phones, jewelry, clothing, and children’s toys were confiscated, leaving them with almost no personal belongings.”
At least 18,500 Palestinians, including over 4,000 children, in Gaza require medical evacuation, according to the World Health Organization, though doctors say the actual figure is likely much higher. Over the past two years, the Israeli military has systematically targeted Gaza’s health care system, with not a single hospital left fully functional and only 18 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals partially operational.
The mother said that although her daughter was able to get the surgery she needed in Jordan, their situation in Gaza is dire. Her family is displaced and living in Gaza City in a battered tent with hardly any supplies and no medicines available for her daughter. “I am happy to see my family again, but these circumstances are impossible to bear. I hope things get better and medicines can be found in Gaza for my daughter,” she said. “I can’t see this happening any time soon, so I am calling on the international community and the World Health Organization to find me and the thousands of other families a way for my daughter and their children to continue their treatment until all of them are completely alright. Then, we will all go back to Gaza.”