The statement comes after an Israeli raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza and the arrest of its director. Attacks on the Palestinians' right to health are reaching “peaks of impunity”, two UN special rapporteurs denounced this Thursday.
The rapporteur on the situation in the Palestinian Territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, who has repeatedly accused Israel of “genocide”, and the rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, call for “an end to the contempt flagrant violation of the right to health in Gaza, following last week's raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital and the arbitrary arrest and detention of its director, Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya.”
“Bombard, destroy and annihilate”
“We are horrified and concerned by the reports coming from the northern Gaza Strip and in particular by the attack on health workers, including the last of the 22 hospitals now destroyed: Kamal Adwan Hospital,” wrote the two experts, who are mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the UN.
They say they are “gravely concerned about the fate of Dr. Hossam Abou Safiya, yet another doctor harassed, kidnapped and arbitrarily detained by the occupying forces, in his case for having defied evacuation orders”, and indicate that his son was killed before his eyes. “This situation is part of an Israeli pattern aimed at continuously bombing, destroying and totally destroying the realization of the right to health in Gaza,” they said.
More than a thousand caregivers killed in Gaza
According to the Israeli army, Kamal Adwan – which was the last major hospital still operational in the north of the Palestinian territory devastated by more than a year of war – served as a command center for Islamist Hamas fighters.
More than 1,057 health professionals have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by the October 7 attack by Hamas, underline the rapporteurs, citing data from the Ministry of Health of the government of the Palestinian Islamist movement. “We urge Israel to end its ongoing assault on Gaza and cease its attacks on health care facilities” and to “ensure the immediate release of Dr. Hossam Abou Safiya and all other health care workers.” arbitrarily detained,” they added.
