Palestinian healthcare workers in Gaza are the true heroes
Medics treat children wounded in an Israeli bombardment in a hospital in Deir Al-Balah. Gaza, November 2023
Ghada Majadli writes in Middle East Eye on 20 July 2024:
Since 7 October, Israeli forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian healthcare workers and imprisoned others under inhumane conditions. The ongoing attacks on physicians, nurses, paramedics and aid providers, coupled with the destruction of Gaza’s health infrastructure, are central to the ongoing genocide.
Throughout this period, we have witnessed the bravery and steadfastness of medical teams in Gaza, who have shown remarkable resourcefulness in addressing the needs of their patients, even as Israel strikes have destroyed the region’s hospitals.
The commitment and fortitude displayed by healthcare workers have been aptly characterised as a form of resistance. Their tireless service amid severely challenging conditions, including shortages of essential food and medicine, is to be commended. Many have received distressing reports of family members killed or wounded in Israeli air strikes, but this has not deterred them from fulfilling their professional and moral obligations.
This perseverance has played a pivotal role in allowing certain medical facilities to continue operating amid Israel’s relentless attacks.
Some hospitals hit by air strikes have resumed operations in a limited capacity despite suffering significant damage. According to the Palestinian health ministry, several operating rooms were restored at al-Shifa hospital in January. But just two months later, Israel stormed the facility again, putting it “out of service forever”, according to its acting chairman.
During a December raid of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, the Israeli army reportedly used bulldozers to dig up bodies recently buried in makeshift graveyards in the facility’s courtyard and arrested the hospital’s director. Despite immense hardships, it was still able to function partially until this past May, when Israel bombed and besieged the hospital again, halting its services.
Unwavering commitment
The Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, which sustained severe damage and was rendered inoperative due to Israel’s bombardment and siege, resumed operations amid joyous celebrations by healthcare professionals in May.
Among those celebrating was Munir al-Bursh, the director general of the Palestinian health ministry, who lost his daughter and suffered a back injury in an Israeli air strike in Jabalia. Despite moving from one hospital to another, Bursh continued to work tirelessly to help injured Palestinians, even as these facilities were attacked and shut down one by one.