Israeli attacks put healthcare on death row in Gaza

28 May 2025

Israel's relentless assault on Gaza's health system has escalated to levels that the Governments of the world must not continue to tolerate.

Health care in Gaza has been facing daily attacks on staff, patients, facilities and supplies. Patient wards, vital supply storage spaces including a prosthetic store unit, water tanks, and ambulances have been destroyed, while quadcopters and airstrikes are preventing people in need of vital care from even approaching many of the hospitals.

These attacks amount to Israel effectively placing Gaza’s health care – and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians – on death row.

They are not isolated incidents: they violate international humanitarian law and are part of the systematic dismantling of Gaza’s already fragile health system, which an independent United Nations Commission found amounts to the crime of extermination. On 13 May, UN Relief Chief Tom Fletcher, called on the UN Security Council members to “act decisively to prevent genocide” in Gaza.

The following hospitals have been deliberately, and also indirectly, struck by Israeli fire in the past two weeks:

• Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis was hit on 13 May in its burn unit. It was attacked again on May 19, damaging its medical warehouse. The hospital has been struck three times within the last two months.
• European hospital in Khan Yunis, was hit on 13 May and is now non-functional.
• Kamal Adwan hospital, in North Gaza, went out of service on 20 May, when military forces and drones surrounded the area, halting the provision of life-saving malnutrition services.
• Indonesian hospital, in North Gaza Governorate, is completely out of service since 21 May, as the generators were bombed and the patients forced to evacuate.
• Al Awda hospital in North Gaza, is once again under military besiegement for the fourth time since October 2023 and has been struck at least 28 times. The emergency room has been hit, injuring four staff. The desalination plant and the storage unit have been targeted and all medicine, supplies and equipment have been lost. Food and water supplies are running dangerously low for the dozens of patients and staff trapped inside. The last standing hospital in the governorate is now all but closed.

“We are doing our best, but we cannot catch our breath,” said the Director of Al Awda Hospital near Jabalia, Dr Salha, himself injured. “We are running out of everything: medicines, fuel for the medical machines, beds, energy. The patients, the staff, everyone is at the end of their rope. For days, no one has been able to enter or leave the hospital: it’s like a death sentence.”

As of 23 May, more than 90% of the 531 health service points across Gaza have become completely non-functional (nearly 6 out of 10) or partially functional (more than 3 out of 10).

Many of the last remaining functional health and nutrition sites are in the 81% of the Gaza Strip under Israeli forced displacement orders or no-go militarized zones. They are inaccessible or extremely dangerous for people to reach. Health workers are also being attacked, with more than 1400 health workers killed in Gaza since October 2023.

The dismantling of the health system is compounded by nearly 3 months of total siege imposed by Israeli authorities since 2 March. It has led to the engineered, avoidable starvation of women, children and men across Gaza, while thousands of trucks carrying vital aid are denied entry by Israeli authorities.

Even if some health points have not been damaged, all are prevented from adequately carrying out their life-saving work due to the lack of necessary fuel and supplies – such as anesthetics, cardiac catheterization medicines, oxygen tanks, orthopedic supplies, dialysis equipment, nutritional supplements, emergency and intensive care items and medicines.

The Government of Israel as party to conflict and as the occupying power bears primary responsibility for these international law violations.

Global leaders have a legal and moral duty to act now and to stand by recent words of condemnation. States must act immediately to:

1. Take concrete actions to ensure an immediate and permanent ceasefire, including immediately halting the transfer of weapons, parts, and ammunition to parties to prevent their use in violations of international law, as prescribed by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution ES-10/24 on the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s Advisory Opinion on Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, and secure the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages and unlawfully detained Palestinians.

2. Fulfill their obligation to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law.

3. Ensure all parties to the conflict guarantee and facilitate safe, unhindered access for humanitarian aid including essential supplies such as fuel, medical items, hygiene products and food across the entire Gaza Strip.

4. Ensure Israeli authorities reopen all crossings into Gaza, and permit patients requiring urgent medical evacuations outside of Gaza, including to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with no restrictions on the return of those seeking to re-enter Gaza.

5. Demand the immediate release of all detained healthcare workers and ensure their protection in line with international humanitarian law.

6. Ensure that the safety and security of humanitarian actors is guaranteed as they respond to the humanitarian imperative to assist all communities.

7. Conduct full, independent and international investigations into the attacks on healthcare in Gaza as violations of international humanitarian law, and take meaningful steps to ensure those responsible are held legally to account.

Signatories:

1. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
2. Oxfam
3. Humanity and Inclusion - Handicap International
4. Children Not Numbers
5. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
6. United Against Inhumanity
7. Terre des Hommes Italy (TDH Italy)
8. Première Urgence Internationale
9. Medico
10. War Child Alliance
11. Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)
12. Health Workers for Palestine
13. Palestine Children’s Relief Fund
14. Islamic Relief
15. Juzoor for Health and Social Development
16. ActionAid
17. Al Awda Health and Community Association
18. MedGlobal