Sick Palestinian Woman Dies While Waiting At Israeli Checkpoint
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan 24 (News Agencies) - A Palestinian woman en route to hospital died overnight while being held up at an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank, Palestinian medical officials said Wednesday.
A spokesman for the Israeli military administration in the West Bank categorically denied the report.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said Aisha Abdel Karim Nasar, 29, died from complications resulting from a cesarean section she had nearly a month ago,
Nasar had been heading to a hospital in the Palestinian-run city of Ramallah from her village of al-Janiya some 15 kilometers (nine miles) away when she was stopped at the Israeli military checkpoint.
The soldiers made her wait for roughly half an hour for an ambulance to arrive from Ramallah, the medical official said, adding that by the time the ambulance arrived, Nasar was dead.
However, Israeli spokesman Peter Lerner said the woman's condition had not been alarming and that she had not been held up at the checkpoint, but had gone to the hospital where she died.
Israel has imposed a tight closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the deadly Palestinian uprising began in late September, forbidding Palestinians from traveling into or through Israeli-controlled areas.
Several Palestinians have died as a result of the closure, which has also devastated the Palestinian economy.
