The Security Council discusses the occupation’s attacks on health facilities in Gaza

The UN Security Council held a meeting this evening, Friday, to discuss “Israeli attacks on health facilities in the Gaza Strip.”

The Council heard testimonies from the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights and the representative of the World Health Organization in the West Bank and Gaza. And Dr. Tania Haj Hassan, a doctor at the Palestinian Medical Aid Society. The meeting comes at the invitation of Algeria, which holds the presidency of the UN Security Council during the month of January.

 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said that “a disaster in the field of human rights continues It continues in Gaza before the eyes of the world.” He added that “Israel’s methods of warfare have led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people and widespread displacement and destruction, raising major concerns about compliance with international law.”

 

 

Turk pointed out via “video conference” According to a recent report issued by his office covering the period from October 7, 2023 until June 30, 2024, “it documented a pattern of attacks on hospitals, starting with Israeli air strikes, followed by raids by ground forces and the detention of some patients and employees, leaving hospitals unable to function.”

 

 

Turk said that protecting hospitals during wars is of utmost importance and must To be respected by all parties at all times. The UN official touched on the destruction caused by the occupation forces last Friday to Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last operating hospital in northern Gaza. He said that this reflects the approach of the attacks documented by his office’s report. He pointed out that some employees and patients were forced to leave the hospital, while others, including the general director of the hospital, were detained in light of many reports of torture and ill-treatment. He said: “Failure to respect these principles is a violation of international humanitarian law. Deliberately launching attacks on hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are being treated, given that they are not military objectives, is a war crime. Under certain circumstances, the deliberate destruction of health care facilities may amount to a form of collective punishment, which is also a war crime. In turn, the representative of the World Health Organization in the occupied Palestinian territory, Rick Pepperkorn, said that about 7% of the population of the Gaza Strip had been killed or injured since October 2023.

 

 

 

 He added that more than 25% of the estimated 105,000 infected people suffer from life-changing wounds that will require intensive efforts to restore them. Lifelong rehabilitation and medical-technological assistance. He stressed that hospitals, time and again, become battlefields, rendering them unable to provide their services and depriving those in need of life-saving care.

 

 

 

 He added that the health sector in Gaza is being systematically dismantled and pushed to the breaking point in light of the severe scarcity of medical supplies, equipment, and specialists. He pointed out that only 16 of Gaza’s thirty-six hospitals are still partially operating, with a bed capacity of only 1,822, far less than the needs of dealing with the massive health crisis in the Strip. He spoke about the slowness of medical evacuations, and said that more than 12,000 people need to be transferred out of Gaza to receive treatment. He pointed out that the continuation of the current slow pace means that it will take 5 to 10 years to evacuate them, including thousands of children. Despite the challenges, Peppercorn said that the World Health Organization and its partners are doing everything possible to enable hospitals and health services to continue working, but he touched on the obstacles and restrictions to bringing supplies into Gaza and throughout the Strip. He said that only 40% of the World Health Organization’s missions during the year 2024 in Gaza were facilitated, which directly affected the organization’s ability to provide supplies to hospitals, transport critically ill patients, and deploy emergency medical teams.  

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