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 on Tuesday.
The 23-page report, which documents various attacks between October 12, 2023 and June 30, 2024, concluded that since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the conduct of hostilities in Gaza had had serious consequences on Access to Palestinians in medical care.
“The destruction of the healthcare 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 and human rights law,” he said.
An Israeli raid closed a major Gaza hospital on Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. Kamal Adwan Hospital was the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza and WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris says this ‘vital’ lifeline for local Palestinians has disappeared.
The Israeli representative to the UN calls the data of the report fabricated
Daniel Meron, Israel’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, described the report’s data as fabricated. He told X that Israel acts in accordance with international law, would never target innocent civilians, and accused Hamas of using Gaza hospitals for what he called “terrorist activity.”
The Israeli military has accused Hamas of using hospitals as command centers for military operations and said the people Israel detained at the facilities were suspected militants.
The UN report alluded to such arguments, but said not enough information had been made public to substantiate them.
Over the past few days, Israel has carried out operations against hospitals in Gaza that drew criticism, among others, from the head of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The report said that deliberate attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are kept – provided they are not military targets – would be war crimes.
He also warned that a systematic pattern of rights abuses against civilians could amount to crimes against humanity.
Israel has repeatedly rejected such suggestions.
‘A Death Trap’
The UN said that in response to its report, the Israeli government said its military had taken extensive measures to mitigate civilian harm and minimize disruption, including providing relief and evacuation routes and setting up hospitals in ground.
In a statement, Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said: “As if the relentless bombing and dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, the only sanctuary where Palestinians should feel safe, were not enough , it actually became a death trap.”
Hamas led an attack in southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 in Gaza on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli data.
More than 45,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza, Palestinian health officials say.
