A UN report says Israel has destroyed Gaza’s health system, ‘in disregard’ of international law
Israeli attacks on hospitals in Gaza have devastated the Palestinian enclave’s health system and raised serious concerns about the country’s compliance with international law, the UN human rights office said in a report released Tuesday.
The 23-page report, which documents various attacks between October 12, 2023 and June 30, 2024, concludes that since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the conduct of hostilities in Gaza has had serious consequences on Palestinian access to medical care.
“The destruction of the health system in Gaza and the scale of the killing of patients, staff and other civilians in these attacks is a direct consequence of the disregard for international humanitarian law and human rights law,” it said.
An Israeli raid closed a major hospital in Gaza on Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced. Kamal Adwan Hospital was the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza, and WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris says this ‘vital’ lifeline for local Palestinians is gone.
Israel’s UN representative calls the data from the report fake
Daniel Meron, Israel’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, described the information in the report as fabricated. He said on X that Israel was acting in accordance with international law, that it would never target innocent civilians, and accused Hamas of using Gaza hospitals for what he called “terrorist activity.”
Israel’s military has accused Hamas of using hospitals as command centers for military operations and said people detained by Israel at the facilities were suspected militants.
The UN report alludes to such arguments, but says that not enough information has been made public to support them.
In recent days, Israel has carried out operations against hospitals in Gaza, which has drawn criticism, among others, from the head of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The report states that deliberate attacks on hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are kept – provided they are not military targets – would be war crimes.
It also warned that a systematic pattern of violations of the rights of civilians could amount to crimes against humanity.
Israel has consistently rejected such proposals.
‘Death Trap’
The UN said that in response to its report, the Israeli government said its military had taken extensive measures to ease civilian injuries and minimize disruption, including providing aid and evacuation routes and setting up field hospitals.
In a statement, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said: “As if the relentless bombardment and dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the only refuge where Palestinians were supposed to feel safe has actually become a death trap.”
Hamas led an attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 in Gaza on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures.
More than 45,500 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s ensuing Gaza war, according to Palestinian health officials.
