HaMoked to the HCJ: instruct the military to permit travel abroad of the mother of a baby who requires life-saving medical treatment unavailable in the West Bank

On July 28, 2018, a baby was born in Hebron with an extremely rare condition, congenital nasal atresia (absence of the nose), of which there are only 41 known cases worldwide. The baby has been hospitalized on artificial respiration since her birth. She requires complex medical treatment that is unavailable in the West Bank. As such, her mother scheduled a series of urgent tests and treatments at a hospital in Jordan, in a desperate effort to save her baby's life.

But the military has barred the mother's exit from the West Bank for the past six months, without providing her with any justification for the decision, or notifying her when she would be permitted to travel again. The bar against her travel abroad was only discovered accidentally, when in April 2018, she attempted to travel through the Allenby Bridge border crossing to Jordan, and was told her travel was prohibited.

As such, before attempting to travel to Jordan with the intubated and respirated baby, HaMoked submitted a request to the military on August 19, 2018, asking whether the security preclusion barring the woman's travel abroad was still in place, and simultaneously objecting to the preclusion, if it is still active. HaMoked attached documents describing the baby's difficult condition to the request, and noted that the woman has never been arrested or questioned by security forces, and has never been accused of anything.

Having received no response, HaMoked contacted the military three more times, requesting that the woman's objection be reviewed urgently, being literally a matter of life and death. But the military ignored the objection.

In light of the urgent need to travel to the hospital in Jordan, HaMoked petitioned the High Court of Justice (HCJ) on September 6, 2018, on behalf of the baby and her mother, demanding that the military be instructed to urgently respond and revoke the preclusion against the woman's travel abroad. HaMoked claimed that the military's outrageous conduct harms the baby's basic right to medical treatment, which is derived from the most basic right to life. HaMoked further claimed that the military is harming the mother's right to freedom of movement, and that the decision to prevent her travel was made without any justification or notification, seriously violating her right to a hearing. In light of the baby's difficult condition, HaMoked claimed that the harm to her and her mother's rights is extraordinarily and disproportionately cruel.