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UN experts said on Wednesday that Israel’s slaughter of doctors and nurses and systematic destruction of the health care system in Gaza amounts to “medicide,” as Israel continues to block key medicines and medical supplies from entry into the besieged enclave.
“As human beings and UN experts, we cannot remain silent about the war crimes committed before our eyes in Gaza,” said Special Rapporteur on the right to health Tlaleng Mofokeng and Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese in a statement.
“In addition to bearing witness to an ongoing genocide we are also bearing witness to a ‘medicide,’ a sinister component of the intentional creation of conditions calculated to destroy Palestinians in Gaza which constitutes an act of genocide,” the experts went on.
Israel’s starvation campaign in Gaza has reached new heights in recent weeks as everyone, including humanitarian and health care workers, is experiencing famine conditions due to Israel’s near-total aid blockade. The UN reported last month that health care workers are fainting from exhaustion and hunger while working.
“Health and care workers have been continuously targeted, detained, tortured and are now, like the rest of the population, being starved,” the UN experts said. “Deliberate attacks on health and care workers, and health facilities, which are gross violations of international humanitarian law, must stop now.”
This comes on top of Israel’s systematic targeting of health care workers. Israeli forces have killed at least 1,500 health care workers and damaged or destroyed nearly every hospital in Gaza amid the genocide.
What is left of Gaza’s health care system can barely function due to Israel blocking all materials necessary for life and the administering of health care.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that its reporters witnessed a truck carrying World Health Organization (WHO) packages with labels for contents like topical medications and wound cleaning materials — supplies that could be crucial in helping to alleviate the hundreds of thousands of cases of skin diseases spreading across the Strip, or the wounds created by disease or Israeli bombings.
But the truck was stalled on the side of the road, having been blocked. A WHO employee at the border told Reuters that Israeli officials barred it from entry because it was carrying “illegal medicines.”
Last month, Haaretz obtained a list of medical equipment banned from Gaza, with officials claiming that it is “dual-use” and could be “exploited” by Hamas. The list is vast, and includes things like ultrasound supplies; scalpels; freezers for vaccine and biological sample preservation; blood count measurement tools; orthopedic sets; and more, the publication found. Other banned items included tents, solar panels, fire extinguishers, and batteries.
On Wednesday, a list of over 120 foreign health care workers who have done missions in Gaza released a letter condemning Israel’s siege of the health care system and expressing solidarity with their Palestinian colleagues.
“These are not logistical challenges that can be solved simply by more medical aid or more international medical delegations,” the letter said. “This is an entirely man-made crisis driven by limitless cruelty and complete disregard for Palestinian life.”
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