Israeli military denies checkpoint delay claim after West Bank stillbirth in ambulance

The Israeli military denied Palestinian health workers' allegation that soldiers delayed an ambulance at a West Bank checkpoint before a 28-year-old woman delivered a stillborn baby in the vehicle on Monday.

Medic Bashar Qaryouti said the woman was six months pregnant, unconscious and bleeding heavily when an ambulance collected her from her home in Qaryout, south of Nablus, and set off for Rafidia hospital.

Qaryouti said the crew had to search for another route because the entrance to a nearby village was closed. He said the ambulance travelled along dirt tracks through olive groves before reaching the Awarta checkpoint, where a gate was shut and a long line of vehicles had formed.

He said he drove to the front of the line and used the siren. According to Qaryouti, soldiers came from a watchtower about 10 minutes later, ordered him to switch off the ambulance and confiscated the crew's identity cards. He said medical equipment inside the ambulance was being used to keep the woman alive.

Qaryouti said the woman's condition worsened while the ambulance was delayed, and a nurse delivered the baby inside the vehicle. He said the baby was stillborn and that the ambulance was allowed to continue after more than 30 minutes.

Rafidia hospital director Fouad Nafaa said the woman had been prevented by the Israeli army from reaching the hospital. He said her bleeding was later brought under control and she was in stable condition.

After AFP requested comment, the Israeli military said “the claim that IDF soldiers delayed an ambulance at the Awarta checkpoint is false”. It also said it had not received a report of the incident from the Palestinian side.

The Israeli military has launched what it describes as a “counterterrorism operation” across the West Bank, creating several road closures. The operation followed a deadly clash on Friday between Israeli settlers and Palestinians in the village of Tell that killed two Israelis and four Palestinians.