Bassam Abu 'Ataya, ambulance driver

I have been an ambulance driver for the Palestinian Ministry of Health since 2000. I transport patients and wounded persons inside the Gaza Strip, and also take to Erez Crossing patients who need to receive treatment in Israel. The order to transport a patient to Erez usually comes from the administrative director of the ambulance station.

On Monday, 22 October, around 4:20 P.M., the administrative director called me and asked me to take a patient from a-Shifa Hospital to Erez Crossing. We went to the hospital, the patient was placed in the ambulance, and the doctors hooked him up to a respirator, a device for checking blood pressure, and an oxygen meter.
Around 4:30, I left the hospital for Erez Crossing. I drove quickly because the patient’s life was in danger. He was bleeding from the mouth and nose, and was in very serious condition. A doctor and nurse came along in the ambulance to care for the patient. When I left the hospital, an Israeli liaison officer called and asked me how soon we would be at Erez. I told him it would take about fifteen or twenty minutes, and that is how long it took.

When we got to the crossing, I got out and handed over for inspection the identity cards of everyone in the ambulance: the doctor, the nurse, the patient, his escort, and myself. We waited for a response from the Israeli side. After about fifteen minutes, they let us enter. We approached the crossing and when we got to the pedestrian entrance, the patient’s escort, ‘Adnan Shuheibar, got out of the ambulance and walked in to the crossing. I drove over to the lane for ambulances. When I got to the gate, it was closed. It was 5:14 P.M. The ambulance’s spotlight and blinking red lights were on. I saw some vehicles waiting at the crossing.

At that moment, one of the tanks signaled to me by blinking his lights, and I thought he wanted me to turn off the lights of the ambulance. I turned off the lights. A few seconds later, the tank signaled again, so I turned off the blinking red lights. The moment I did that, a soldier who was about eight meters from the ambulance fired two shots. Then a soldier called me on my MIRS phone and ordered me, in Hebrew, to go back to the Palestinian side of the crossing. I told her that I had received approval to enter and asked why she was telling me to go back. She replied that they had summoned only the patient’s escort and not the ambulance. While we talked, I turned the ambulance around to face south, towards the Palestinian side. Meanwhile, Walid, the Palestinian liaison officer, called and told me to return. I returned to the Palestinian liaison office at the crossing.

I called Ahmad Abu Ghazeh, the health coordinator for the Palestinian Authority, and told him that the Israelis had ordered me to return and that the patient was in very serious condition. He told me that he would speak with the Israelis and get back to me. I waited at the checkpoint. The patient’s sons were there. They were standing next to the Palestinian liaison office, and they also called Ahmad Abu Ghazeh. They looked tense.

After about thirty-five minutes, Ahmad Abu Ghazeh called and told me to go back to a-Shifaa Hospital because the Israelis said they had closed Erez Crossing and wouldn’t let us through. I stayed where I was. The patient was bleeding and in serious condition. I told the family that the crossing was closed. I was afraid they would think it was my fault we were going back. I spoke with Walid and he also told me to return because the crossing was closed. I drove the patient back to a-Shifaa Hospital.

Bassam 'Abdallah 'Ata Abu ‘Ataya, 44, married with six children, is an ambulance driver, and a resident of Gaza City. The testimony was given to Muhammad Sabah in Gaza on 2 November 2007.