CRISIS WORSENS: THE ATTACK ON GAZA’S HEALTHCARE

The Middle East will forever be shaken by the Hamas’s attack on October 7th, 2023, and Israel’s fatal response at Gaza. As reported by the Hamas’ government media office,

the claim on civilians’ lives in Gaza has been 20,000 deaths and counting, including over 8000 children and 6000 women. To add to this statistic, over 1.5 million people have been displaced according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA), most of them seeking refuge in hospitals. However, recent events display that even hospitals cannot escape the perils of war.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on November 12th released that at least 521 people including 16 healthcare professionals have been killed by the Israeli military’s strikes on Gaza’s healthcare centres. Moreover, their decision to cut off electricity and block humanitarian aid and ambulances, impeded over two third of primary healthcare facilities while the casualties skyrocket each day. On November 18th, Al-Shilfa, Gaza’s largest hospital, received an order to evacuate in one hour without ambulances or facilities to transfer patients. However, the hospital was housing over 7000 people including premature babies, amputees, and critical care patients. While most families fled, over 300 patients including 39 premature babies without incubators were left behind. Once the deadline expired, these patients were forcibly removed by the Israeli military and had to leave through the al-Wehda road where dozens of dead bodies lay scattered.

Merely a month earlier on October 17th, the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City was hit and erupted in a plume of orange smoke. The Hamas government strongly blamed an Israeli airstrike, which they claimed killed 471 civilians and wounded 314. On the other hand, Israel firmly maintained that the attack was due to a failed rocket from the Islamic Jihad group in Palestine. The following morning, the ‘horrified’ UN Secretary-General in his message on X condemned the loss of Palestinian lives while reminding the global community that “Hospitals and medical personnel are protected under international humanitarian law”.

Indeed, as per this law, health establishments, transport and medical staff, and the wounded and sick are no longer part of wartime hostilities. State and non-State parties are therefore obliged to (regardless of lack of resources) provide the best and quickest medical care possible while permitting aid from impartial humanitarian organisations. Although the case in Gaza is alarming, it certainly would not be the first healthcare crisis during war. In 2023, WHO recorded over 1000 attacks on healthcare during the Russia- Ukraine war, and similar incidents transpired during the Syrian civil war in 2011. In fact, wartime strikes on healthcare can be traced as far back as the wars in Korea and Central America in the 1980s. Ultimately the multitudinous death of civilian patients and medical workers alike begs the question: is all truly fair in war? By: Keerthana Rajesh