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by IMEMC News

Israeli soldiers stationed at the Erez (Beit Hanoun) Terminal, in northern Gaza, abducted a Palestinian man who was accompanying his ailing brother to a hospital in the occupied West Bank.

Media sources said the soldiers abducted Mousa Marzouq Abu Taha, 47, from Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, west of Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, while he was accompanying his brother who was heading to the West Bank to undergo an eye surgery.

The incident took place Tuesday, when the soldiers informed Mousa that he needs to be interviewed at 9 in the morning at the terminal, so that he can obtain a permit to accompany his brother, however, once he went there, he was instantly detained.

According to official documentation by the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Israeli soldiers have abducted 11 Palestinians at Erez Terminal this year, including eight merchants, and two who were accompanying patients.

It said that such violations are carried out against basic rights of the freedom of movement and the right to receive medical care, and are serious breaches of International Law, in addition to all laws regarding the protection of civilians without discrimination.

Al-Mezan said that Israel, who is also a signatory to these laws and agreements, is violating the civilian, economic, social and cultural rights, and all laws regarding the political rights of the Palestinian people, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which calls for the protection of civilians.

It strongly denounced Israel for its ongoing attempts to blackmail the patients and their families, by trying to turn them into collaborators, informing on their own people, to be allowed to cross or receive the medical care they urgently need.