ONE report Published by Office documents attacked between October 12, 2023 and June 30, 2024, serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law. Medical staff and hospitals are specifically protected by international humanitarian law, provided they do not commit – or are not used to commit outside their humanitarian function – actions that are harmful to the enemy.
“As if the merciless bombing and the serious humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough was The one shrine where Palestinians should have felt safe actually became a death trap“Said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. “The protection of hospitals during warning is most important and must be respected by all sides at all times,”.
The study has been released a few days after the last functioning large health facility in northern Gaza, Kama Adwan Hospital, was taken out of operation following an attack by Israeli military forces, leaving the population of North Gaza with almost no access to adequate health care system.
Staff and patients were forced to flee or were taken into custody with many reports of torture and abuse. The director of the hospital was taken into custody and his fate and place of residence are unknown.
Air strikes cause destruction in the area around Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on October 25, 2024.
Possible war crimes, crimes against humanity
During the period ,.
The report explains that ambulances and hospitals under the extraordinary circumstances when medical staff, ambulances and hospitals lose their special protection because they meet the stringent criteria to be considered military targets, any attack on them still adheres to the basic principles of distinction , proportionality and precautions in attack. Failure to respect any of these principles constitute a violation of international humanitarian law.
Intentionally instructs attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are treated, provided they are not military targets; Intentionally instructs attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians who do not participate in hostilities, including the launch of any attack that results in death or harm to civilians; And intentionally launching disproportionate attacks are also war crimes, the report adds.
In certain circumstances, the conscious destruction of health facilities may constitute a form of collective punishment that would also constitute a war crime.
The report also notes that several of these actions, if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed at a civilian population, further to a state or in the case of non-governmental actor, organizational policy, Can also pose crimes against humanity.
Were hospitals used for military purposes?
In most cases, Israel claims that hospitals were wrongly used for military purposes by Palestinian armed groups, the report states. However, so far, sufficient information has been made available to substantiate these accusations that have remained vague and wide, and in some cases appear to be the opposite of publicly available information.
If these accusations were verified, this voyage would be serious concerns that Palestinian armed groups used the presence of civilians to intentionally protect themselves from attacks, which would constitute a war crime.
500 medical professionals reported killers, Mass Graves found
The effects of the Israeli military’s operations in and around hospitals and associated battle extend far beyond the physical structures, the report finds.
Women, especially pregnant women, have a little serious. Many women have given birth without or minimal care before and after birth, which increases the risk of preventable mothers and child mortality. The UN Human Rights Office received reports that newborns had died because their mothers were unable to participate in postnatal control or reach medical facilities to give birth.
The increasingly limited health system prevented many of those who had persistent trauma damage from receiving timely and possibly life -saving treatment. By the end of April 2024, 77,704 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health in the state of Palestine (Palestinian MOH), were wounded. Many wounded reportedly died while waiting to be hospitalized or treated. According to the Palestinian MOH, at the end of June 2024, more than 500 medical professionals had been killed in Gaza since October 7.
The Israeli military’s first major operation against a hospital involved Al Shifa Medical Complex in November 2023. It attacked the plant a second time in March 2024, leaving it in complete ruin on April 1. Following the withdrawal of the Israeli military’s withdrawal, three mass graves were allegedly found in the hospital, with at least 80 corpses picked up, which raised serious concerns that crimes under international law may have been committed. Some of these bodies were allegedly found with catheters and canes still attached, suggesting that they had been patients.
A woman carries the body of a newborn killed in an attack on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza.
Possible targeting of medical staff and patients
In some of the attacks, the Israeli military probably used both heavy weapons and air ammunition with broad area effects, the report finds. It seems that an MK 83 ammunition was used in January 10 Air strikes in front of Al Aqsa Martyr’s Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, Middle Gaza. Reportedly, at least 12 people were killed, including a journalist and several internally displaced (IDPs), and 35 people were injured. The use of explosive weapons with breadth effects in a densely populated area raises serious concerns with any attacks.
The report finds that another feature of such attacks has been the apparent targeting of people in hospitals, but that in most of these cases it was difficult to determine attribution. The UN Human Rights Office confirmed several cases of people being shot at Al Awda Hospital in Jabalya, including a volunteer nurse who was deadly shot in his chest while looking out of a window on December 7, 2023.
“It is important that there are independent, thorough and transparent studies of all these events and full accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law that have taken place,” said Mr. Türk. “All medical workers who are detained arbitrarily must be released immediately.”
“It must also be a priority for Israel, as the occupying power, to ensure and facilitate access to adequate healthcare for the Palestinian population and for future improvement and reconstruction efforts to prioritize the restoration of the medical capacity that has been destroyed in the last 14 Months of intense conflict. “
