A British Palestinian doctor was blocked from entering France for a Senate meeting on the war in Gaza

PARIS– A well-known British Palestinian surgeon who has volunteered in Gaza hospitals said he was denied entry to France on Saturday to speak at a French Senate meeting on the Israel-Hamas war.

Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta has been placed in a detention zone at Charles de Gaulle airport and will be expelled, according to French senator Raymonde Poncet-Monge, who invited him to speak at the Senate.

“It’s a shame,” Poncet-Monge posted on X.

A French official said Abu Sitta was rejected because he was barred from entering all Schengen zone countries based on a German request. The official, who was not authorized to be named publicly in accordance with government policy, did not provide additional details or information.

Abu Sitta posted on social media that he was denied entry to France due to the one-year ban imposed by Germany on his entry into Europe. Germany denied him entry last month and France and Germany are part of Europe’s borderless Schengen zone. Abu Sitta posted on Saturday that he was being sent back to London.

The French Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry, local police and the Paris airport authority did not comment on what happened or provide explanations.

Abu Sitta was invited by the left-wing French group Ecologists in the Senate to speak at a colloquium on Saturday about the situation in Gaza, according to the Senate press service. The meeting included testimonies from international doctors, journalists and legal experts with Gaza-related experience.

Last month, Abu Sitta was prevented from entering Germany to participate in a pro-Palestinian conference. He said he was stopped at passport control, detained for several hours and then told he would have to return to the UK. He said airport police told him he was refused entry due to “the safety of people at the conference and public order.”

Abu Sitta, who recently volunteered with Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, worked during several conflicts in the Palestinian territories, beginning in the late 1980s, during the first Palestinian uprising. He has also worked in other conflict zones, including Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

France has seen tensions related to the Middle East conflict almost daily since Hamas’ deadly incursion into Israel on October 7. In recent days and weeks, police have expelled students from French campuses who were holding demonstrations and protests similar to those in the United States.

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