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JERUSALEM-A human rights group accused Israeli security agents on Monday of refusing entry to dozens of Palestinians from Gaza seeking medical treatment unless they agreed to act as informants.Physicians for Human Rights-Israel documented cases of 32 Palestinians, some with terminal illnesses, who said they were denied entry into Israel after refusing demands by agents at the border to inform on the activities of Gaza militants."They are using psychological and physical torture in order to win over patients and get information," said Salah el-Haj Yehya, a co-founder of the human rights group."It is forbidden to interrogate sick people for military purposes," he added, citing the Geneva Conventions.Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, which was founded in 1988, comprises more than 1,000 Israelis, half of them healthcare workers. It seeks to promote human rights particularly with regard to health care.Israel denied the allegations. "There is no conditioning whatsoever between receiving an entry permit to Israel for humanitarian purposes and the willingness of that individual to provide information of any sort, aside from about his medical condition," an Israeli security source said.The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza denounced what it called Israeli "blackmail" and urged the Red Cross to intervene.The report said the number of Gazans seeking care in Israel more than doubled after Hamas seized power in Gaza last year.As in the days of Noah...
