Urgent Appeal to CDC, NIH, Presidents of Medical Associations, CEOs of Hospitals, and Healthcare Leaders: Take Immediate Action to Protect Healthcare in Gaza
As healthcare workers and leaders who are committed to the protection of life and health, it is our responsibility to address the urgent and escalating crisis in Gaza and Lebanon. Hospitals are being bombed in Gaza and in Lebanon as we speak, with healthcare facilities reduced to rubble. We have seen the destruction of nearly every hospital in Gaza, the incarceration, torture, and killing of healthcare professionals, and the horrific scenes of patients tethered to IV lines murdered or burned alive in their beds. Children have been maimed and shot by snipers, their bodies riddled with bullets, and are being systematically starved. The very foundation of healthcare in Gaza is being systematically dismantled.
Recent reports confirm that medical missions are now banned from entering Gaza, and the northern part of Gaza is being completely shut down: no journalists, no doctors, no food, no fuel, and no aid are being allowed in. These severe restrictions have made it impossible to deliver even the most basic medical services. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, over 1000 healthcare workers have been killed and hundreds more have been illegally detained and currently in prison. Every hospital has been bombed and the health system is in total collapse.
As healthcare leaders, we urge you to issue statements demanding the following:
- Stop Bombing Hospitals and Attacking Healthcare and Aid Workers: We demand an immediate halt to all bombings and attacks on hospitals, healthcare facilities, and aid workers. These spaces and personnel must be protected under international law, and the ongoing destruction must end.
- Call for the Protection of Children in Gaza and Lebanon: No child should ever be a victim of war, under any circumstance. The safety and security of children must be respected at all times, with no exceptions. It is our collective moral duty to protect the most vulnerable, ensuring their right to life, peace, and dignity in every corner of the world.
- Call for an Immediate and Permanent Ceasefire and an End to the ongoing Genocide to Allow Health Operations to Resume: The ongoing violence is obstructing life-saving care. A ceasefire is essential to stabilize health operations, treat the wounded, and prevent further unnecessary loss of life
- Support a Comprehensive and Immediate Embargo on Weapons to Israel and Divestment to Stop the Mass Slaughter of Civilians and Destruction of Healthcare: The continued supply of weapons has transformed hospitals and healthcare facilities into battlegrounds, where healthcare workers and patients are being brutally targeted. These weapons are not just instruments of war—they are tools of mass devastation, driving the slaughter of civilians and the obliteration of essential healthcare services.
- Advocate for Unrestricted Humanitarian and Medical Access to Gaza: Immediate delivery of essential medical supplies, such as antibiotics, surgical tools, and trauma care resources, must be ensured. Preventing access to healthcare is a violation of medical ethics and humanitarian principles.
- Establish healthcare education and training at your institution for patient-facing staff to provide informed care to patients affected by war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide: This training should include a focus on the impacts of racism, occupation, apartheid, and settler-colonialism on health especially in the context of Palestine. Offering this clinical training aligns with the 6 Key Principles of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) as outlined by SAMHSA and the CDC, and represents a best practice in patient care. We also emphasize that censoring voices that speak out against this genocide is antithetical to our medical oath. As healthcare professionals, we are committed to saving lives and standing against injustice. Silencing those who advocate for the end of atrocities goes against the very principles of our profession.
The demands above are consistent with International Humanitarian Law, US Federal Law, and the four canonized Principles of Medical Ethics.
We ask you, as leaders in healthcare, to join us in urging Congress and the Senate to take immediate action by calling and emailing elected officials. The deliberate bombing of hospitals, the targeting of healthcare workers, and the systematic destruction of medical services must be stopped. Not another child should suffer, starve, be amputated, or lose their life due to this ongoing genocide.
Additionally, we ask for your support in bolstering the efforts of our organizations and the medical community in Gaza and Lebanon. The need is urgent and immense, and we cannot meet it alone. We need your help to provide care, save lives, support medical and nursing students, and rebuild healthcare infrastructure that has been shattered. Supporting our efforts is not just about providing aid; it’s about ensuring that healthcare workers can continue their sacred mission of healing in the face of unimaginable adversity.
Now is the time to act—your leadership can make the difference.
Signing organizations:
Doctors Against Genocide
Eye Witnesses Gaza
Healthcare Workers for Palestine
Health Workers for Palestine UK
Human Dignity Project (THDP)
Medical Students for Justice in Palestine (MSJP)
Nurses Against Genocide
Sources
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/15/our-neighbours-burned-alive-the-bombing-of-al-aqsa-martyrs-hospital
https://abcnews.go.com/International/hospitals-health-care-workers-attack-lebanon/story?id=114856783
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-inquiry-accuses-israel-crime-extermination-destruction-gaza-health-system-2024-10-10/
https://www.icjpalestine.com/2024/10/18/six-medical-aid-organisations-banned-from-gaza/
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-deputy-executive-director-humanitarian-action-and-supply-operations
https://abcnews.go.com/International/patients-trapped-northern-gaza-hospitals-idf-operations-continue/story?id=114986778
