 Citing 'security reasons', Israel reportedly imposed a lifetime ban on Gilbert, who has treated casualties in Shifa hospital for 30 years, from entering Israel and from this reason entering the Gaza Strip from the Israeli border after the publication of an open letter in "The Lancet", undersigned by 24 doctors and scientists including Gilbert, in which it was argued that Israel was adopting the rhetoric of a national emergency to masquerade a massacre of Palestinians, especially targeting women and children during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.Later on "The Lancet" editor in chief Richard Horton said he regretted publishing the letter.During the conflicts in Gaza in 2009 and 2014, Gilbert was accused by some in Norway and abroad of facilitating propaganda by Hamas.