UN report warns ‘pattern’ of destruction of hospitals in Gaza by Israel

The report, covering the period from 7 October 2023 to 30 June 2024, found that “22 out of 38 hospitals across Gaza had been rendered non-functional”.

Its publication comes after the most recent destruction of Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last remaining in northern Gaza. Israeli forces stormed the hospital last week, following nearly three months of a blockade and constant air strikes on its departments.

Although not within the remit of the report’s time period, this attack followed the same pattern highlighted, which includes “missile strikes on hospital buildings, the destruction of hospital facilities, shooting of civilians, sieges, as well as temporarily taking over the hospital buildings”.

The report cited the first major attack against al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which took place in November 2023, as an example of such an incursion.

During the attacks on both al-Shifa and Kamal Adwan, Israeli forces began by bombarding the area outside the hospitals, cutting off supplies, rendering the generators out of service, and sparking fires in several departments – including the surgery, intensive care and maternity wards.

Troops then stormed the hospitals, forcing many of the remaining staff and patients to strip almost naked and detaining them, including the hospital directors.

The director of al-Shifa Hospital, Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, has since been released after seven months of incarceration. However, the head of orthopaedic medicine, Dr Adnan al-Bursh, was tortured to death in Israeli custody.

Likewise, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, was arrested and is currently missing despite calls for his release.

The same procedure is mirrored in incursions against al-Amal Hospital, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) facilities in Khan Younis and al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, among others, as documented in the report.

In many cases, but most prominently in the bombardment of al-Shifa, the Israeli government justified its actions by alleging that Palestinian armed groups used the hospitals to run their operations, holding captives, stealing fuel provided by the Israeli army and treating the patients and medical personnel as human shields.

“However, insufficient information has so far been made publicly available to substantiate these allegations, which have remained vague and broad, and in some cases appear contradicted by publicly available information,” the UN report found.

The report called for an “independent, credible and transparent investigations of these incidents, and full accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law which have taken place”.

Israel also ignored pleas from the World Health Organization (WHO) to stop attacking medical facilities in northern Gaza, with a medical worker telling Middle East Eye on Thursday that heavy shelling and gunfire from unmanned quadcopters was taking place in the direction of the war-battered Indonesian Hospital.

Dr Rawia Tambour told MEE that Israeli forces were firing heavy artillery shells in the vicinity of the facility in Beit Lahia, while quadcopters shot at anything that moved.

“Israeli military vehicles are advancing towards the hospital,” Tambour said in an audio message, as the sounds of blasts echoed in the background.

The Indonesian Hospital, one the biggest health facilities in northern Gaza, has been out of service for weeks due to ongoing Israeli attacks and a debilitating siege put in place since early October.

Earlier this week, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO, called on Israel to cease its attacks on Gaza’s beleaguered hospitals and medical centres and offer a brief reprieve to exhausted Palestinians.

“Hospitals in Gaza have once again become battlegrounds and the health system is under severe threat,” Tedros stated, adding: “We repeat: stop attacks on hospitals. People in Gaza need access to healthcare. Humanitarians need access to provide health aid. Cease fire!”

A day later, the UN Human Rights Office released a report saying Israeli forces had “destroyed the healthcare system in Gaza”, with the situation reaching “catastrophic levels”.

The report added that Israel’s 15-month offensive had resulted in the “killing of hundreds of health and medical professionals”, as well as patients and civilians.

“It is essential that there be independent, credible and transparent investigations of these incidents, and full accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law which have taken place,” according to the report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Israel has repeatedly targeted Gaza’s healthcare system since declaring war, with videos, investigations and witness testimony documenting relentless attacks on hospitals, ambulances and doctors.

Israeli forces previously raided the two largest hospitals in the strip, al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and Naser Hospital in Khan Younis, destroying them in the process.

Since 7 October, Israel has killed over 1,150 healthcare workers and detained 300, according to the Palestinian health ministry.