10 October 2022
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) strongly condemns recent attacks on Palestinian health workers by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank, and calls on the international community, including the UK government, to demand an immediate end to all violations against healthcare.
On 2 October, Israeli forces assaulted two Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics in Nablus. According to the PRCS, the two medics were “threatened at gunpoint, kicked and beaten.” Israeli forces also damaged a PRCS ambulance.
In a separate incident, on 5 October, Israeli forces closed the entrances to the central warehouses of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the village of Salem, east of Nablus. Israeli soldiers prevented employees from entering or leaving and fired sound bombs into the warehouse yards.
“The frequency and brutality of attacks on Palestinian health workers is extremely concerning, but sadly something we have become used to in the West Bank,” said Aisha Mansour, MAP’s West Bank Director. “Until there is meaningful action to address these attacks, including through independent investigations and accountability, Palestinian health workers will not be safe to carry out their essential duties.”
The PRCS reports that 383 violations have been committed against their emergency medical teams in the occupied Palestinian territory in 2022. This includes 19 cases of obstruction of ambulances during their emergency response, 331 cases of denial of access for paramedics to the scene of emergencies, and 14 direct attacks on PRCS staff and volunteers.
These violations against healthcare come in the context of a significant increase in raids and military incursions by Israeli forces, which has made 2022 the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) began recording casualties in 2005. At least 100 Palestinians have been killed amid a substantial rise of raids by the Israeli army, particularly in the cities of Jenin and Nablus, according to the BBC.
“The frequency and brutality of attacks on Palestinian health workers is extremely concerning, but sadly something we have become used to in the West Bank.”
At least 7,636 Palestinians, including 747 children, have also been injured by Israeli forces, according to the UN OCHA. The number of live ammunition injuries in August 2022 (128) in the West Bank was the highest since December 2015, except for two exceptional months where large-scale demonstrations took place (December 2017 and May 2021).
This year has also seen a 34% increase in the monthly average of incidents of settler violence causing injury or property damage compared to last year, and an 83% increase when compared to 2020.
MAP has been responding to the increasing violence across the West Bank and East Jerusalem by supporting hospitals with emergency trauma response. In March, we delivered a new ambulance to the PRCS to help bolster the vital work of their paramedic teams, and will deliver a second one later this year.
This comes on top of our emergency support to PRCS and Palestinian Medical Relief Society first responders and hospitals in East Jerusalem in 2021, providing essential medical supplies for treating the wounded.
International humanitarian law prohibits attacks on healthcare workers and facilities, and requires that they be protected to carry out their life-saving work. MAP calls on the international community, including the UK government, to demand that Israel cease attacks on health workers and routine use of excessive force against Palestinians.
We also call on states to strengthen the protection of medical personnel and facilities in the occupied Palestinian territory by promoting adherence to UN Security Council Resolution 2286 (2016), and supporting genuine investigations and accountability where violations have occurred, including through the UN Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.
If you believe that every Palestinian healthcare worker has the right to work without being attacked, show your solidarity and sign our campaign pledge.
Photo: Paramedics respond to increasing violence. (Credit: Palestine Red Crescent Society).
