Israeli army systematically targets medical teams in effort to destroy Palestinian life in northern Gaza
Wounded Palestinians lie on mattresses at Kamal Adwan hospital after Israeli forces withdrew from the hospital, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip October 26, 2024
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports on 13 December 2024:
As part of its genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Israel routinely targets medical teams in the north in an effort to destroy the health system and impose intolerable living conditions on civilians while denying them access to life-saving care.
The Israeli occupation army targeted Dr Saeed Joda today, on the afternoon of Thursday 12 December, as he was travelling from Kamal Adwan Hospital to Al-Awda Hospital to treat patients. He was killed when a Quadcopter fired at him, striking him in the head and demonstrating that his killing was premeditated and deliberate, especially given that he was the only orthopaedic physician in the northern Gaza Strip.
Israel has attacked Kamal Adwan Hospital, located in the Beit Lahia project, more than 20 times in the past 10 days, injuring several patients, medical personnel, and their companions. An Israeli drone targeted and killed Ali Al-Qar’a, a paramedic working in the Kamal Adwan area, on Sunday night (8 December).
The few medical teams that have remained in northern Gaza are being targeted by the Israeli occupation army in a methodical, obvious, and recurring pattern. This makes it extremely difficult to provide medical care to the 10s of thousands of residents who have been under siege for 69 days, and continues to prevent ambulance and civil defence crews from working for 51 days now.
In addition to the cycle of killing that has affected 10s of thousands of Palestinian civilians in the northern section of the Strip, Euro-Med Monitor’s review of the Israeli military’s targeting records and victim lists reveals a systematic, widespread policy of killing and assassinating Palestinian elites and those with competencies in various sectors.
The number of Palestinian medical personnel who have been killed since 7 October 2023 is 1,057, and more than 135 scientists and academics have also been killed. Professor Abdel Salam Abu Zaida is the latest of these victims, having been killed along with six other Palestinians in an Israeli raid on Gaza City’s Al-Malash building yesterday evening (Wednesday, 11 December).
The lists of targeted elites also include journalists, 193 of whom have been killed since 7 October 2023, as well as people with knowledge of computer engineering, programming, and information technology, plus other influential people in these crucial spheres of society.
Israel’s crimes, which include the targeted and intentional killing of Palestinian intellectual elites and talents as well as the widespread and intentional destruction of businesses and infrastructure, are likely to impede the advancement of Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip overall; threaten its scientific, educational, and economic system; and deprive its vital sectors of prestigious and specialised cadres that will be difficult to replace in the near future. The killings are also bound to instill fear among the remaining talents.
These crimes occur in the context of overt Israeli policies that seek to render the Gaza Strip uninhabitable by eradicating basic life structures and individuals with valuable competencies. Given the magnitude and breadth of Israel’s efforts, its crimes could immoblise Palestinian society in the Strip by preventing it from developing, building, or recovering from this genocide.
The United Nations and all nations must therefore carry out their international legal duties to prevent the continuation of Israel’s crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip; impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel; hold it responsible and punish it for all of its crimes; take all necessary steps to protect Palestinian civilians in the Strip; defend medical personnel and health facilities in the enclave from any further targeting; and act swiftly, without hindrance, and in a way that satisfies the needs of all residents of the Gaza Strip, especially those in the northern areas. The complete withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army from the entire Gaza Strip must be ensured.
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