Allow Seriously Ill Residents of Kfar Aqab to Pass Through a Less-Congested Checkpoint
- ACRI
- May 6
- 3 min read
The village of Kfar Aqab in Jerusalem is located beyond the separation barrier in the city. Until the Gaza war, residents would leave for Jerusalem through the Qalandiya or Hizma checkpoints. An additional checkpoint, the Jaba checkpoint, was established at the beginning of the war and encloses the neighborhood. The checkpoints are extremely congested, and crossing them takes a long time—sometimes hours. They are also sometimes closed without warning.
Another checkpoint on the way to Jerusalem, Al-Jib, is always open and allows for quick passage into the city for those who have received special approval. On June 17, 2025, ACRI contacted the commander of the Jerusalem Envelope Border Police with the demand that seriously ill residents of Kafr Aqab who need urgent and frequent treatment at hospitals in Jerusalem be allowed to pass through this checkpoint. This request followed previous appeals submitted by ACRI since February 2025 regarding two children, ages eight and six, who suffer from end-stage kidney failure. These requests were accompanied by medical approvals and the necessary documentation, but despite repeated reminders, only at the beginning of June 2025 did we receive a curt response from the Jerusalem Envelope Command stating that “the family ... does not meet the required criteria.”
In the letter, Attorney Tal Hassin argued that the refusal to allow seriously ill patients to pass through the Al-Jib checkpoint is arbitrary, unreasonable, and violates the fundamental rights of residents to health, equality, and dignity. She also stated that it contravenes the state’s commitments to the Supreme Court, as well as the previous Jerusalem Envelope Border Police commander's commitment to allow patients to pass through the checkpoint. The letter also noted that the commander has the authority to exercise discretion in granting approvals for passage through Al-Jib, and that those crossing through the checkpoint include doctors who work in Jerusalem, members of the education system in the city, seriously ill patients who have already received passage permits, Palestinian Authority residents with special approval, and Hebrew University students. We therefore demanded that an immediate passage permit be granted for the Al-Jib checkpoint for the two children on whose behalf we contacted the authorities, as well as more generally for seriously ill patients, and that similar future requests be answered promptly and in the affirmative.
ACRI, together with the Center for the Protection of the Individual, petitioned the Supreme Court on August 19, 2025, on behalf of seven patients. In the petition, we demanded that seriously ill patients from Kafr Aqab be allowed to pass through the Al-Jib checkpoint, and includes the stories of very sick children who are forced to go through hell every time they need to get to a hospital. Among them are sisters with kidney failure who need regular dialysis treatments, a baby with a congenital brain defect, and a child with cancer who needs frequent chemotherapy. For some, delays in reaching the hospital can be life-threatening. The refusal by the Border Police Commander to allow patients to quickly and safely reach hospitals in Jerusalem is a violation of their rights to life, health, and dignity.
Our petition was successful. The Jerusalem Border Police will allow patients passage through the less-congested Al-Jib checkpoint in order to reach hospitals and other medical treatment facilities and waived the arbitrary conditions for obtaining a permit to pass through the checkpoint. The Border Police will also provide written justification for any rejections of requests. As a result, the Court ruled on May 6, 2026 that the petition had been exhausted, and cancelled it, ordering the respondents to pay the costs.
For legal correspondence and articles written about this case, see here (Heb).
The petition was written with the help of ACRI's Field Coordinator Muhannad Anati and legal intern Inbar Quiroga
