Human Rights and Democracy Media Center- SHAMS, affirms that the intentional continuous targeting of physicians in the Gaza Strip (by killing and detention), is an insist on the crimes and a strategy to kill Palestinian patients and wounded. The applied policy by the occupation aims at terrorizing physicians and preventing them from resuming their human role in treating patients and wounded persons affected by the attacks of the Israeli occupation forces. The Israeli occupation forces have been shelling and destroying the Gaza Strip heavily since October 7, which in turn resulted in tens of thousands of wounded persons who need medical support. Such an unethical policy had never been witnessed in history but during the domination of the Fascist and Nazism Regimes, which insisted on genocide crimes against human beings.
The Center denounces the crimes committed by the occupation against physicians and medical teams in the Gaza Strip. The latest act within these crimes was arresting Dr. Haidar Al-Qudwa, director-general of Al-Amal Hospital, and Dr. Maher Attallah, on Monday 5/2/2024 and they were taken to an unknown place. SHAMS Center stresses that the affidavits collected from the doctors who were arrested before indicated the level of criminality and savagery that the Palestinian doctors were subject to during the arrest and investigation in the Israeli prisons and interrogation centers. According to those released doctors, they were arrested in places, which lacked the minimum life essentials, especially regarding food, water, and places to sleep. Dr. Mousa Abdul-Rahman Maarouf, a physician working at Al-Ahli Al Arabi Hospital in Gaza City, reported that the Israeli forces cuffed his hands and legs and folded his eyes throughout the seven weeks he spent detained. He added that “the torture was hard and I weight 87 kg at the moment of arrest and I lost 25 kg during 45 days of detention. I lost balance and concentration and I lost feeling of things. For a duration of 45 days, we remained cuffed and our eyes were folded”.
SHAMS Center deplores Israeli crimes, which reveal the level of criminality, and revenge, and insists on the killing of Palestinian physicians. The Israeli behavior interprets the fact that the Israeli government is careless regarding the international legitimacy resolutions and ignorance of international law, which is a behavior that characterizes the policy of the Israeli occupation in dealing with Palestinians. The Israeli behavior is a message delivered to the so-called free world, which aligns with the occupation and supports the aggression with weapons and other forms of materialistic support. Additionally, these countries are providing the occupation with political coverage in the United Nations Security Council. The United States and some European countries that support the occupation apply double standards in dealing with global issues and applying the values of democracy, justice, and human rights.
The Center affirms that targeting physicians by killing and arresting, represents a profound violation of international law and international humanitarian law. The medical crews are protected under international human rights law, particularly the Geneva Conventions. The Israeli practices are categorized as crimes against humanity and profound violations of international law and international humanitarian law. In particular, the Occupation state violates Article 18 of the Geneva Fourth Convention (1949), which states: “Protection of hospitals Civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict”. Additionally, it violates Article 24 of the Geneva First Convention (1949), which stipulates: “Medical personnel exclusively engaged in the search for, or the collection, transport or treatment of the wounded or sick, or in the prevention of disease, staff exclusively engaged in the administration of medical units and establishments, as well as chaplains attached to the armed forces, shall be respected and protected in all circumstances”. On a related level, the Israeli practices violate rule number 24 of the international humanitarian law to protect the medical teams, which states: “Medical personnel exclusively assigned to medical duties must be respected and protected in all circumstances. They lose their protection if they commit, outside their humanitarian function, acts harmful to the enemy”. It violates rule number 25 of the same rules, which affirms protecting the medical teams and stipulates: “In all circumstances, the teams performing exclusive medical duties should be protected and respected.
SHAMS Center calls on the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the International Federation of Doctors, Médecins Sans Frontières, the International Red Cross Committee, and Amnesty International, as well as regional and international governmental and non-governmental human rights organizations, to urgently intervene and pressure the Israeli occupation government to halt the crimes committed against physicians in the Gaza Strip. It is imperative to compel the occupation to neutralize civilian facilities and the staff working in them, especially physicians, nurses, paramedics, and emergency personnel, from sites of conflict and military operations, as they are civilians who are entitled to protection under international law, during times of war and armed conflicts.