Repeated Israeli attacks on Gaza’s hospitals and nearby operations have brought Gaza’s health care system to its knees, according to a report released Tuesday by the UN human rights office.
The 19-page report found that “Israel’s pattern of deadly attacks” on and near hospitals has “destroyed most of Gaza’s hospitals”, leading to sustained fighting in and around many hospitals and “overwhelming the health care system.” Pushed to the brink of “complete collapse.”
The report’s authors claim, “The situation has deteriorated to catastrophic levels since October 2023, as the already damaged health system has been targeted, resulting in the killing of hundreds of health and medical professionals.”
The report covers the period from October 7, 2023, to June 30, 2024 – when Hamas militants launched a terrorist attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
Hamas is designated as a terrorist group by the United States, Britain, and other Western countries.
During this period, the report documented at least 136 attacks on at least 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities, claiming numerous casualties among medical staff and civilians and causing significant damage,” “If there is no complete destruction of civilian infrastructure.”
UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said, “This report graphically details the destruction of the health care system in Gaza and the extent of the killing of patients, staff and other civilians in these attacks in blatant disregard of international humanitarian and human rights law. ” Human Rights said in a statement accompanying the publication of the report.
He said the report raises serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law. It states that medical personnel and hospitals are specifically protected under international humanitarian law, “provided they do not commit, or are accustomed to commit, acts harmful to the enemy outside their humanitarian function.”
“As if the constant bombings and dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, a sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe has actually become a death trap,” Turki said. “The security of hospitals during war is paramount and must be respected at all times by all parties.”
Israeli response
Israel has vehemently denied these allegations. In an 11-page response, the Permanent Mission of Israel in Geneva described this fourth “thematic report” by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as “one of many examples of OHCHR’s inherent obsession with shaming Israel.”
It accused the agency of dismissing “well-documented evidence of Hamas military activities in health facilities” and an “unwillingness to recognize Hamas’ systemic exploitation of Gazan medical facilities for terrorist purposes.”
The Permanent Mission called the methodology adopted in OHCHR reports “fundamentally flawed”. It criticized the agency’s reliance on “unreliable sources” and justified its attacks on hospitals on the grounds that these health care centers were being used by Palestinian armed groups.
The Permanent Mission said, “There is substantial evidence linking Hamas to terrorist activity in medical facilities.” “Hamas strategically installs its tunnel systems and infrastructure within the premises of medical facilities and uses them as weapons stores and accessible headquarters for its operatives.”
OHCHR reports that attacks on hospitals have occurred in all areas where Israeli forces launched ground operations, including attacks on the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and other hospitals in Gaza City in November 2023.
The attacks continue even today. The report said that “the horrific destruction caused by Israeli military attacks on Kamal Adwan Hospital last Friday – leaving the population of northern Gaza with almost no access to adequate health care – reflects the pattern of attacks documented in the report.”
Reacting to the attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, on Monday expressed concern over the ongoing attacks in the Gaza Strip and the airstrike on Kamal Adwan Hospital, warning that “people This is the means by which “existence is being brought to an end.”
According to the World Health Organization, 15 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain “partially functional”, nine in the south and six in the north.
“Health systems are under grave threat,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adnan Gbegreyes said. “Hospitals in Gaza have once again become a battlefield,” he said.
The OHCHR report finds that increasingly limited healthcare systems are preventing many people injured by trauma from receiving timely and potentially life-saving treatment. It said attacks on hospitals in Gaza “are having a serious impact on patients with initially non-fatal conditions, potentially turning them into lethal ones.”
“Women, especially pregnant women, are suffering severely. Many women are giving birth without or with minimal prenatal or postnatal care, increasing the risk of preventable maternal and infant mortality.” It said there are risk factors for kidney failure, high blood pressure, People with chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease have also lost access to their treatments, “putting them at risk of worsening health outcomes and death.”
The report’s authors say, “Deliberately directing attacks at hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are treated, provided they are not military objectives… and deliberately carrying out disproportionate attacks are also war crimes.”
It added that “under certain circumstances, the deliberate destruction of health care facilities could constitute a form of collective punishment, which would also be a war crime.”
Human rights chief Turki is calling for an independent, thorough and transparent investigation into all these incidents, “and calling for full accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”
In response to this appeal, Israel’s Permanent Mission in Geneva said, “The State of Israel reaffirms its commitment to international law, and is committed to investigating any extraordinary incidents through its established mechanisms.”