A report published by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Unit (COGAT) shows a 10 percent increase in the number of Palestinian Authority Arabs who received treatment in Israeli hospitals in 2012.

The total number of 219,464 patients, 21,270 of them children, includes the companions accompanying the patients in Israel.

The numbers represent  a dramatic increase in the number of PA Arabs who receive treatment by Israelis medical professionals, compared with 197,713 patients in Israeli hospitals in 2011 and only 144,838 in 2008.

COGAT, a military unit which is responsible for implementing the Israeli Government’s policy in Judea and Samaria, stated, “The Civil Administration, through its health department (HDCA), works closely with the Palestinian Ministry of Health to support the medical needs of the Palestinian population throughout Judea and Samaria.” The HDCA manages all issues relating to Israeli-Palestinian healthcare coordination, primarily the transfer of Palestinian patients to hospitals in Israel.

The HDCA further works to enable professional medical training for Palestinian Authority Arabs by Israel through the encouragement of medical conferences and the training of Palestinian medical staff in Israeli hospitals. Training sessions take place several times a year, initiated by both the HDCA and the Palestinian Authority.

In 2012, the Civil Administration paid $560,000 to send PA Arab doctors, nurses, and paramedics for training in Israel. The Civil Administration has also set aside a budget to finance critical medical procedures for patients who are not covered by Palestinian or UNRWA health insurance and are not able to pay privately.

Tazpit’s Anav Silverman reported last year that Suhila Abd el-Salam, the sister of Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, accompanied her husband for treatment in Israel. Her husband was admitted to Bellinson Hospital, in Petach Tikvah, for immediate medical treatment following a serious heart condition.

Haniyeh’s sister and her husband requested permission to travel to Israel to receive the necessary medical treatment because Gaza hospitals could not properly treat the condition.

This was not the only time that a Gaza resident was treated in Israel. This past March, a 15-year-old boy in Gaza was transported to the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot after suffering from severe burns and shrapnel injuries from an alleged rocket launching pad that was set up in Jabalya, a neighborhood in northern Gaza.

The Palestinian Minister of Health, Dr. Hanni Abadin, paid an unprecedented visit to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem at the beginning of this past May.

Dr. Yuval Weiss, director of the hospital, reported that at any given moment there are some 60 Palestinian Authority medical personnel in training at the hospital. Dr. Abadin thanked Hadassah for the opportunity to visit and for its services, visited Arab children hospitalized at Hadassah and gave them gifts.

The Civil Administration Health Department declared that it will continue in 2013 to cooperate closely with their PA counterparts and international organizations in Judea and Samaria to advance healthcare for the benefit of all residents in the region.

Israel has allowed a special transfer of fuel through the Kerem Shalom crossing, in order to accommodate the dire needs Palestinian civilians, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s office. Altogether, 10 tankers will move 112,500 gallons of diesel and gasoline to a power plant in Gaza.

The fuel transfer will be carried out as quickly as possible—to avoid sabotage efforts by local terrorist gangs—by the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA), in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority, the Southern GOC, the Land Crossing Authority and the Dor Energy Company.

The power plant in Gaza which will be receiving the fuel provides one third of Gaza’s power supply.

Earlier this month—for the first time since the terrorist organization Hamas first overtook the Gaza Strip in 2007—the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) approved the export of two trucks loaded with dates from the Gaza Strip to Judea and Samaria.

And a ago COGAT facilitated the export of Gaza Strip tomatoes for the first time since 2007. 30 tons of produce were exported to markets in Jordan via the Allenby Bridge.

COGAT will continue its work with the Erez District Coordination Liaison to enable a gradual export from the Gaza Strip to markets abroad.

Dateline – Israel. 9:15 PM

This post was updated and corrected at 11:45PM from the original version following the release of additional information from the COGAT office.

A 15 year old Palestinian teenager from Gaza has been transported to Israel for emergency medical treatment in the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot.

The Arab teenager was seriously injured while preparing to launch a Palestinian Qassam rocket at Israeli civilians in Southern Israel, when the rocket suddenly malfunctioned and exploded. COGAT indicates that a second boy was killed in the attempted attack, and that the Palestinians tried to blame Israel for his death.

The explosion took place in Jabalya in Gaza.

Photo Illustration: Palestinians in Gaza prepare to shoot Qassam rockets at Israeli civilians in southern Israel.