Blocking humanitarian medical aid in Gaza is a death sentence
After the destruction of Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City, following a 14-day Israeli siege and incursion, on 1 April 2024
Bilal Irfan, Abdullah Ghali, Sarah Siddiqui, Abeerah Muhammad and Shraddha Shah write in Mondoweiss on 1 December 2024:
As international healthcare workers who have recently participated in medical missions to Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, in collaboration with Palestinian medical professionals and advocates in this sector, we write with great alarm over the recent decision by Israel to deny entry to at least eight medical organizations as of October 15, 2024. Some of the affected organizations include FAJR Scientific, Palestine American Medical Association (PAMA), Palestinian American Bridge (PAB), Glia, Baaitulmaal, PalMed, PANZMA, and HEAL Palestine. This list may not be exhaustive and other organizations may very well also be affected, with some of the denials now being rescinded. This decision comes on the heels of evacuation orders in northern Gaza affecting upwards of 400,000 people, and with several humanitarian teams still on the ground in Gaza amidst ongoing bombardment.1 Volunteer physicians have reported on the medical and surgical care needed by the many victims of the Israeli airstrikes on the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital complex in Deir el-Balah, which resulted in tents catching fire and patients burning alive, on October 14, 2024.2
This new policy is an escalatory step as part of a punitive pattern of imposing arbitrary restrictions on the entry of healthcare workers into Gaza. This includes, but is not limited to, previous entry denials to international healthcare workers of Palestinian descent following the Rafah invasion, other healthcare workers denied entry without explanation, or put on a ‘pending’ status for weeks on end.