The Palestinian Medical Relief Society strongly condemns the IOF for forcing a Palestinian woman to give birth at the checkpoint.

Ramallah, 28-07-08. The Palestinian Medical Relief Society firmly condemns the current and continuous policy carried by the Israeli occupation forces that use collective punishment against the Palestinian people, through the use military roadblocks, preventing patients to access healthcare and pregnant women to reach medical centres.

The Palestinian Medical Relief Society reported the case of Magda Abdel Latif Aldjaarfah, who was prevented by soldiers to pass a closed Israeli military checkpoint in Beith Khalil, north of Hebron, on her way to the hospital and was forced to give birth inside of the car at the barrier.

The organisation stated that the complex matrix of Israeli roadblocks –which exceed 607- lead 76 Palestinian women to give birth at the checkpoints and to the death of 24 pregnant women during childbirth, as well as the death of 27 babies.

The Palestinian Medical Relief Society called the International Community to act in order to stop the Israeli inhumane violations of the international humanitarian law carried in the Palestinian occupied territories, and press Israel to respect the Geneva Convention and the International law.