UN Human Rights Office report on Tuesday, December 31, condemned deadly Israeli attacks on hospitals in Gaza, saying they had devastated the Palestinian occupied territory health system and raised serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law.
The appalling destruction wrought by the Israeli military’s attacks on the Kamal Adwan hospital last Friday – leaving the population of North Gaza with almost no access to adequate health care – reflects the pattern of attacks documented in the report. Staff and patients were forced to flee or were taken into custody, with many reports of torture and ill-treatment. The director of the hospital was taken into custody and his fate and whereabouts are unknown.
In the report documenting various attacks between Oct. 12, 2023, and June 30, 2024, the UN rights office said they had had severe consequences on Palestinians’ access to medical attention. The 23-page report concluded that since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, against Israel, the conduct of hostilities in Gaza had destroyed local healthcare.
During the period covered by the report, there were at least 136 strikes on at least 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities, claiming significant casualties among doctors, nurses, medics and other civilians and causing significant damage, if not complete destruction of civilian infrastructure.
Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital is one of several that has been targeted by Israel (Photo: Olga Cherevko/OHCHR)
“The destruction of the healthcare system in Gaza, and the extent of killing of patients, staff, and other civilians in these attacks, is a direct consequence of the disregard of international humanitarian and human rights law,” it said.
In early October, a UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded that since October 2023, “Israel has implemented a concerted policy to destroy the healthcare system of Gaza.” Given that a functioning healthcare system is essential for basic survival, Israel’s assaults and sieges on medical facilities must, therefore, be understood as a tool of ethnic cleansing. The dire conditions faced by northern Gaza’s residents are the direct result of Israeli military and governmental actions, with the support of multiple nations. With no red lines drawn for Israel during its 400-day rampage, tens of thousands remain isolated from the outside world.
On Tuesday, Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHR) on behalf of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s family, we filed an urgent request with the Israeli military for information on his current whereabouts. The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital was abducted on Friday after refusing to leave until every patient was evacuated.
“His arrest is part of a broader Israeli assault on Gaza’s healthcare system and the professionals sustaining it. To date, Israel has killed over 1,000 healthcare workers and detained 230 more, 130 of whom remain in custody. International law grants healthcare personnel special protections, as targeting them and the healthcare system directly threatens the lives of men, women, and children who lose access to vital medical care,” PHR said.
According PHR, “Thousands of Palestinian detainees have been tortured and abused in Israeli custody over the past 15 months, leading to dozens of deaths from violence and medical neglect, including 3 physicians. We must not let Dr. Abu Safiya and other detained healthcare workers join this toll.”
The full UN Human Rights Office report:
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32356
