Israeli Assault on Hospitals in Gaza: A Real Catastrophe

The numerous agreements and protocols that discuss the protection of civilian sites during wars and crises, which are at the heart of international humanitarian law, are often overlooked. Civilian sites include homes, schools, universities, hospitals, places of worship, and other protected facilities. The Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), the First and Second Protocols to the Geneva Conventions (1977), and the Hague Convention (1954) included clear provisions in this context. However, all these legal articles and protocols remained ink on paper in all the wars waged by Israel.

Targeting civilians was the primary goal in the instructions of the war ministers who succeeded one another. According to their beliefs, this constitutes a means of pressure and burden on the opponent or enemy, which may make him, according to their illusions, raise the white flag and surrender. It is noticeable that the more the Israelis fail in the military field, the more civilians become a “scapegoat” for Israeli “brutality” to reach a level that human history has not witnessed.

Hospitals in the Gaza war were one of those civilian sites that did not escape the crimes of the occupation, but the most heinous crimes were committed in them. The painful images of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital bear witness to the brutality of this entity, which is based only on shedding blood. The Fourth Geneva Convention dedicated special protection to hospitals in “Article 18”, which stipulates that “it is not permissible under any circumstances to attack organized civilian hospitals to provide care for the wounded, sick, disabled, and women, and they must be respected and protected at all times”. Also, “Article 19” of the same convention stipulated “the prohibition of stopping the due protection of civilian hospitals”. The four Geneva Conventions – the third common article – oblige all parties to “collect the wounded and sick and take care of them”.

The inclusion of international laws and legal articles is not for the sake of talking about their violation by the enemy. The latter has never given any importance to anything related to the law, and therefore, this is not surprising. However, the inclusion of these laws comes as an argument against those who sing these laws and raise them as slogans, and in return, they sing their friendship with the usurping entity and defend it.

Hospitals and health centers were a bank of targets for the “Israeli” enemy throughout the Gaza Strip. According to the latest statistics from the World Health Organization, more than 200 attacks on health facilities in the Gaza Strip were recorded, and 51 centers affiliated with the Ministry of Health and the “UNRWA” organization out of 71 centers were out of service. The occupation forces also killed 70 members of the “UNRWA” field teams, according to what was announced by the Regional Director of the World Health Organization for the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari. This is in addition to the martyrdom of others working in the field of health care.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the “Israeli” bombing led to the cessation of approximately half of the sector’s hospitals, which are located in 35 hospitals, 16 of which stopped working due to the Israeli bombing and the depletion of the fuel needed to operate their power generators due to the “Israeli” siege, in addition to the partial damage to some hospitals, where it was previously indicated that the bombing damage affected 26 hospitals, and more than 23 ambulances.

It is no secret to anyone that the situation in the hospitals of the Gaza Strip is “surreal” where these hospitals operate at 3 times their operational capacity. There is no absorptive capacity, no medicines, and no medical supplies. No water, no electricity, and a severe shortage in almost all resources. Intensive care rooms are full and operating rooms are working around the clock. Even some hospitals have reached a kind of differentiation between the wounded. The reality that the Ministry of Health in the sector announced, speaking of a “total collapse” of the health system in all hospitals in the sector.

According to the World Health Organization, there are 130 children under artificial respiration devices threatened with death in the event of a power outage, and 1,000 patients suffering from kidney failure are threatened with not getting services, as well as a large number of patients with cancer and other non-communicable and infectious diseases. According to the organization, there are hospitals threatened with Israeli bombing, and these hospitals house hundreds of patients and hundreds of thousands of refugees who resort to them as safe places, but unfortunately, the hand of aggression and tampering reaches these safe places.