Prof Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, posted on social media that he was denied entry in France because of a one-year ban by Germany on his entry to Europe.

A well-known British-Palestinian surgeon who has provided testimony over the Israel-Hamas war after operating in Gaza hospitals during the conflict said he was denied entry to France on Saturday to speak at a French Senate meeting about the war.

Prof Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, was informed by French authorities after arriving on a flight from London at Charles de Gaulle airport north of Paris on Saturday morning that Germany had enforced a Schengen-wide ban on his entry to Europe.

The French foreign ministry, interior ministry, local police, and the Paris airport authority would not comment on what happened or give a reason for the decision.

French Sen. Raymonde Poncet Monge, who had invited Abu-Sitta to speak at the Senate, said the doctor was placed in a holding zone in the Charles de Gaulle airport and would be expelled.

“It’s a disgrace,’’ the Europe Écologie-Les Verts senator said on X.

French police said German authorities, who had previously refused Abu-Sitta entry to Germany in April, had put a visa ban on him for a year, meaning he was banned from entering any Schengen country. It is not clear whether the doctor was aware of this before flying to Paris.

“They are preventing me from entering France. I am supposed to speak at the French senate today,” Abu-Sitta said on X.

“In an act of utter vindictiveness the French authorities are denying me access to an earlier flight and insisting on sending me on the last flight back late night to London.”

Abu-Sitta had been invited by Green party parliamentarians to participate in a conference at the Sénat, the upper house, to speak about the situation in Gaza. The gathering included testimony from medics, journalists, and international legal experts with Gaza-related experience. The theme of the conference was: France and its responsibility in the application of international law in Gaza.

The Elysée Palace said it was not aware of Abu-Sitta’s being refused entry to France but a spokesperson told French newspaper Le Monde that “when it’s a question of a Schengen refuse, the border police can’t do much about it.”

Monge, the senator who organised the conference, condemned the police action in her statement and said they had contacted the office of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin in an attempt to allow Abu-Sitta entry without success.

“How can Germany issue territorial bans throughout the Schengen area? It’s mind-boggling! This is a new step in the repression of everything to do with Palestine,” said Monge, who later posted a photograph of Abu-Sitta attending the conference via video.

“We are outraged that he cannot be present among us,” she said.

Abu Sitta was denied entry to Germany last month to take part in a pro-Palestinian conference. He said he was stopped at passport control, held for several hours, and then told he had to return to the UK. He said airport police told him he was refused entry due to “the safety of the people at the conference and public order”.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), an independent organisation of lawyers, politicians, and academics who support Palestinians’ rights, called Abu-Sitta’s detention on Saturday an “unacceptable harassment of a globally respected medical professional”.

“By design, the Germans are silencing a key witness to Israel’s war crimes. This follows their action taken on 12 April to bar Dr. Abu-Sitta’s entry to Berlin to participate in the Palestine Congress – an event which German police later disbanded,” the organisation said.

Abu-Sitta, who recently volunteered with Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, operated from Gaza’s al-Shifa and al-Ahli Baptist hospitals during October and November 2023 at the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza that has since killed more than 34,000 Palestinians.

During his 43 days in the hospitals, the surgeon described witnessing a “massacre unfold” in Gaza and the use of white phosphorus munitions, which Israel has denied. He has also provided evidence to Scotland Yard.

Abu-Sitta has worked during multiple conflicts in the Palestinian territories, beginning in the late 1980s during the first Palestinian uprising. He has also worked in other conflict zones, including in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.