Israel forces targeting Palestinian hospitals, medical personnel and infrastructure
Less than two weeks after launching its genocide on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military committed one of the most heinous atrocities in modern history.
On October 18th a huge blast rocked the Al-Ahli hospital compound in Gaza, which was packed with thousands of Palestinians seeking shelter from the Israeli strikes.
According to Palestinian health officials, more than 470 people were killed in that incident.
Most of the victims were defenseless civilians who had taken shelter at the hospital and its surrounding areas. At the time they had no idea that the Israeli regime might target hospitals.
Hospitals and clinics have special protections under international law and the deliberate targeting of these facilities is a clear violation of these principles.
As usual, the Israeli army first denied that it was behind the attack.
Subsequently the regime and its Western allies, including the United States and Canada, claimed that the explosion was caused by an errant rocket fired by the armed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
However, independent investigations by various media outlets have debunked this propaganda.
The New York Times conducted a thorough analysis of video footage from the night of October 17, live streamed by Al Jazeera Television, which clearly showed that the missile seen in the video, supposedly fired by Palestinian fighters, did not cause the explosion at the hospital. Instead, it detonated in the sky approximately two miles away.
It was in fact a missile fired by the Israeli military that caused the devastating explosion.
"According to all feeds and videos analyzed this rocket was intercepted and was the last one launched from Gaza before the bombing of the hospital.
Five seconds after that interception and explosion in Gaza can be seen, followed two seconds later by a much larger explosion.
This is the strike that hit al-Ahli Arab Hospital.
As a result, the Al Jazeera digital investigations team found no grounds to the Israeli army claim that the strike on the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza was caused by a failed rocket launch."
New York Times
But the al-Ahli hospital was not the last hospital targeted by the Israeli military during its onslaught in Gaza.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch in 2023, the Israeli military has repeatedly, and unlawfully, attacked medical facilities, personnel and transport, further destroying Gaza's healthcare system.
The report says that these attacks should be investigated as war crimes as they have violated international humanitarian law.
Because every society has the right to have a health care system and that's why their health care system is protected by the Geneva Convention. And the Fourth Geneva Convention is utterly clear, has always been.
And that's why these attacks on healthcare that are so well documented, and the most extreme, the most brutal examples, are the situations like we have in Nasr medical complex now, where they are shooting and killing staff and patients inside.
And the situation we had in the West Bank, were they again, dressed up like doctors, fake doctors and relatives coming [to visit] and hid their weapons and went into this room and shot and killed this patient, who was actually immobilized, this Palestinian young man and his two companions; killed him, executed him and his two companions, under the disguise of being medical personnel.
The reason why this is so serious, and why it is not stopped is so serious, is that it threatens the immunity of the healthcare system and the safe network, the safety network, that the health care system provides to people around the world.
Dr. Mads Gilbert, Emergency Medicine Specialist
On January 31st, an undercover Israeli death squad, posing as Palestinians, brazenly infiltrated a hospital in the occupied West Bank, resulting in the assassination of three Palestinians, one of whom was a partially paralyzed patient.
Surveillance footage captured the alarming scene, as approximately a dozen Israeli Special Forces raided the Ibn Sina Specialized Hospital in the northern city of Jenin. Disguised as Palestinian medical personnel and civilian women, they brandished rifles while navigating through the corridors perpetrating this shocking act in broad daylight.
According to the World Health Organization, Israel has conducted nearly 400 attacks on healthcare facilities in the Gaza Strip, including every single one of its hospitals, rendering the majority nonfunctional as of February 12th.
A report published by the WHO details the Israeli strikes on healthcare facilities in the Gaza Strip. According to the report at least 659 people have lost their lives and more than 840 others have been injured in Israeli attacks as of February 12th. Nearly 100 ambulances have been targeted with more than 50 destroyed by Israeli missiles.
As of February 12th, only 11 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are partially functioning; five in the north and six in the South.
According to the World Health Organization, hospital bed capacity across all of Gaza has now been reduced from 3,500 to just 1,400.
This is just the tip of the iceberg and the disaster seems to be much worse.
Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, is one of the international organizations actively working in Gaza despite Israeli attacks.
Doctors Without Borders has already lost several staff members in recent months as a result of Israeli attacks. In the most recent attack, the Israeli military deliberately targeted an MSF shelter in Gaza, killing two people and wounding several others.
As an international charity organization, MSF is committed to independence, neutrality and impartiality, as it only seeks to provide medical services to vulnerable people across the world, especially those trapped in conflicts and war zones.
According to MSF the Israeli military systematically targets health facilities in Gaza.
"MSF deplores the situation in which people have been left with no options to go for treatment in case of a large influx of war wounded patients. The systematic attacks against health care are unacceptable and must end now so that the wounded can get the care they need. The entire health system has been rendered inoperative."
MSF
As a matter of fact, the targeting of hospitals in Gaza by the Israeli military has, tragically, become an everyday occurrence. Just recently, a harrowing voice message was sent by a Palestinian capturing the horrifying sounds of Israeli bombing echoing from Nasser Hospital in Rafah.
About what's happening here in Nasser Hospital and there was direct bomb into the hospital.
They force people inside the hospital included patients, [explosion in background] relatives and healthcare workers to evacuate immediately and you can hear in the background, the continuous bombing in the hospital.
Khaled Alserr, Palestinian Doctor
This blatant act of aggression saw Israeli soldiers storming the hospital in broad daylight, in clear violation of international laws governing the protection of medical facilities and personnel during armed conflict.
Israeli Soldiers' attacks continue from nearby area inside and outside the hospital. Tanks movement outside the hospital we cannot look through the windows.
Khaled Alserr, Palestinian Doctor
The extent of attacks by the Israeli military leaves no doubt that the regime is deliberately, and systematically, targeting the medical centers in Gaza.
Israel is now directly targeting medical staff in Gaza. But why is Israel destroying hospitals and deliberately targeting doctors and medical staff in Gaza?
Not only is Israel systematically targeting medical facilities but they are [also] targeting medical professionals and Israel's objective in targeting medical professionals is to cripple the health sector by killing an entire generation of doctors, to the extent that building the hospitals after the genocide would not even suffice to restore the health sector.
I mean, it's such an unspeakable thing.
But this is all part of Israel's goal to make Gaza completely uninhabitable and compelling Palestinians to leave the Gaza strip, which is one of Israel's ultimate war goals.
Tamara Nassar, Electronic Intifada
Such brazen attacks come amid the unequivocal support from Israel's staunch allies, including the United States and its European supporters, who have not only remained silent but also supplied Israel with deadly weapons and ammunition to continue its genocide in Gaza.
My point is that it's horrible. And the most horrible thing about what is going on in that hospital now is that this has been going on for four months without no power [sic] stopping it.
So I don't know, I think the Israelis, with their impunity, they just keep going because no military force, or political force, or international alliance of these nations, are able to stop them.
The only one that can stop them is the United States and they don't want to stop them.
They continue to supply them with political support and weapons.
So this madness is a result of a deliberate policy from the United States and, unfortunately, also from many of the European governments.
Dr Mads Gillbert, Emergency Medicine Specialist
The United Nations has repeatedly condemned Israel's attacks on civilian targets, including hospitals in Gaza.
In 2023, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution that condemned Israel's attacks on hospitals and called for an independent investigation into the attacks.
However, the resolution has not been implemented, as Israel enjoys impunity, thanks to the unwavering support from its staunch ally the United States as well as other Western countries.
The recent US Israeli genocide in Gaza has once again underscored the hypocrisy of those who claim to champion human rights and has highlighted the inefficacy of international organizations in addressing Israel's occupation regime.
It has become evident that only through alliances among independent nations can we hope to halt such atrocities
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