22 January 2020
Gaza paramedic Sabreen Qeshta describes in MAP’s new film being shot while treating injured demonstrators at the “Great March of Return” and the impact this has had on her life.
This shooting of Sabreen on 27 September 2019 was the second time she has been shot on duty. A few months earlier she received a head injury that affected her sight. She told the World Health Organization (WHO),"I feel I am targeted as a paramedic and in Gaza we have never been truly protected.”
Her team-member Abdallah Al-Qutati was shot dead by Israeli forces in August 2018, and Sabreen features in MAP’s earlier film on him:
Abdallah is one of four health workers to have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to reach, treat and evacuate wounded demonstrators at the “Great March of Return” in Gaza. A further 832 health workers have been injured at the protests by Israeli forces.
For years the Israeli authorities have fostered a culture of impunity for attacks on the Palestinian health sector.
A UN Commission of Inquiry into the protests found “reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such”.
Health workers are #NotATarget, and must be protected in accordance with international law. Throughout 2020 will be upscaling calls on the UK Government and others to take action to protect Palestinian health workers.
