Gaza’s healthcare services are in tatters

Israel's systematic effort to eradicate Gaza's hospitals is part and parcel of its overall campaign to make it impossible for Palestinians to live in the narrow coastal strip. The initial objective of this campaign is to drive Palestinians from the north to the south which cannot sustain the entire population of 2.3 million.

Israel's ultimate objective is to force desperate Palestinians to emigrate "voluntarily" so that Gaza can be colonised by Israelis and absorbed into Greater Israel.

The first to opt for emigration under Israel’s impossible conditions are likely to be professionals: doctors, nurses, teachers, academics, engineers, and architects who could find countries to accept them. Gazans left behind could serve Israeli colonists as agricultural labourers, construction workers, household staff, garbage collectors, and roadmenders.

A report issued on December 31st by the UN Human Rights Office "found that Israel's pattern of deadly attacks on and near hospitals in Gaza, and associated combat, has pushed the healthcare system to the brink of total collapse, with catastrophic effect on Palestinians' access to health and medical care." UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk stated, "The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times.”

The Israeli offensive against medical staff and hospitals began after the October 7th Hamas attack on southern Israel. In November, the Israeli army focused on Al-Shifa Medical Complex, the strip's largest, in Gaza City, and by April 1st, 2024, it was "a complete ruin" with three mass graves in the hospital grounds.

Subsequently, Israel assaulted all of Gaza's 36 hospitals, leaving southern Gaza with four functioning field hospitals. In Beit Lahia in the north the Kamal Adwan hospital was attacked, emptied of staff and patients, and torched on December 27th while the West was celebrating Christmas and New Year. Israel announced the hospital was closed permanently. Kamal Adwan was a Palestine Liberation Organisation leader who was assassinated by Israel in 1973 in Beirut.

Hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya was arrested along with medical staff and patients. He is being detained in the Negev at the notorious Sde Tieman detention camp where torture and abuse are rampant, according to prisoners who have been released and have testified to Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem.

Abu Safiya is employed by MedGlobal, a Chicago-based humanitarian organization that provides medical care in disaster and conflict zones. He joins five other MedGlobal personnel who are under arrest by Israel, MedGlobal Executive Director Joseph Belliveau told The Intercept.

Two other doctors, two cleaners, one data entry worker, and one nurse administrator arrested on October 26th at Kamal Adwan remain in prison. Belliveau has been working with the UN, US Congress, the European Union and Israeli authorities to free the Medglobal staff who have disappeared without a trace. “Where exactly are they? What are their conditions? What are they being accused of? How are they being treated? What comes next? What about due process here? Nothing,” Belliveau asked.

Amnesty International expressed "extreme" concern over Abu Safiya's arrest. Amnesty's Secretary General Agnes Callamard demanded, "He must be released immediately and unconditionally." She pointed out that he has been at the forefront of the effort to save Gaza's health services and appealed "for the protection of his hospital [which has been] working under inhumane conditions."
The doctor continued working after he was wounded, and his 15-year-old son was killed in an Israeli drone strike in October. Fifty-seven staff members. including all the surgeons, were arrested, leaving Kamal Adwan hospital with paediatricians only.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it is "appalled" by the raid on Kamal Adwan hospital, which put the last major health facility in North Gaza out of service. The systematic dismantling of the health system and a siege for over 80 days on North Gaza puts the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians remaining in the area at risk. "Healthcare workers around the world have launched a social media campaign demanding the Israeli army immediately release" Dr. Abu Safiya, The New Arab reports. Former British Labour Party leader and serving member of parliament Jeremy Corbyn called on X for an end to arms sales to Israel.

Israel's attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and health facilities constitute multiple war crimes. Israel is accused of violated medical neutrality, which is a war crime under the 1948 Geneva Conventions. Attacks on hospitals can amount to "a form of collective punishment:" a war crime. Although Israel nearly always claims targeted medical installations harbour armed militiamen who are fighting Israeli troops, Israel has failed to provide convincing evidence.

Turk told the Security Council on January 3rd that Israeli claims that Hamas launches attacks from Gaza’s hospitals are often “vague” and can be “contradicted by publicly available information.” Even if militiamen are receiving treatment or sheltering in hospitals, the laws of war prohibit indiscriminate attacks which are intentionally launched at civilians causing death or injury: a war crime.

WHO stated, "The principles of precaution, distinction and proportionality under International Humanitarian Law are absolute and always apply. Disproportionate attacks are also war crimes. These crimes can be judged to be crimes against humanity and, even, genocide. The detention of medical staff and destruction of hospitals is just one aspect of Israel's assault on Gaza.”

In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to prevent the commission of actions covered by the 1948 Genocide Convention by killing Gazans, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on them conditions to destroy them. The ICJ also ordered Israel to enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian aid. In March, the ICJ scolded Israel for failing to implement its January order as the situation in Gaza had become catastrophic.
In July, the Court ruled that Israel's occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem is unlawful and called on Israel to end the occupation, dismantle its settlements, pay reparations to Palestinian victims and repatriate Palestinian refugees.

While Israel has ignored ICJ rulings, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and ex-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The ICC considered them co-perpetrators for committing...the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts."