Erez crossing
Erez crossingYonatan Sindel/Flash 90

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) clarified on Sunday that, contrary to statements made by MK Ahmed Tibi (Hadash-Ta'al), Israel approved the entry of a Gazan girl, Aisha al-Lulu, to a hospital in eastern Jerusalem after her parents signed a declaration that they did not want to leave Gaza with her.

The parents asked that their daughter be accompanied by a friend of the family who entered Israel with the girl and stayed with her during the treatments. Aisha al-Lulu died in Gaza after returning home two weeks ago following an unsuccessful operation at the Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem.

COGAT stressed that "the Gaza District Coordination and Liaison requires parental accompaniment for medical treatment of minors, based on the understanding that a child needs his parents at this moment. In this case too, in accordance with the DCL procedure, Aisha's parents were required to transfer a declaration stating that they did not want to accompany their daughter during the treatments - for their own reasons - and requested that another party accompany them.”

The clarification on behalf of the IDF came after MK Tibi claimed that Israel did not allow the child’s parents to accompany her to Israel. "Look at Aisha al-Lulu who died yesterday of a cancerous brain tumor. She was five years old when she died. She was born and died in besieged Gaza,” he had written.

"After postponements and delays, she was rushed late for an operation in East Jerusalem," Tibi continued. "Alone. Her family was not allowed to accompany her, neither her mother nor her father. She was recently returned to Gaza, to her fate. Enough of the malignant siege.”