Today the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition and Human Rights Watch released a report documenting attacks on medical facilities and personnel around the world since January 2014, at the World Health Assembly in Geneva (18 – 26 May, 2015).
The report, titled Attacks on Health: Global Report, includes details of attacks on hospitals, clinics and ambulances in 17 countries, including those by Israel during the Summer 2014 Gaza conflict:
“In July and August 2014, hostilities between Israel and Hamas resulted in severe damage to health infrastructure in Gaza. According to a WHO-led assessment of the impact of the hostilities on the health sector in Gaza, 16 health workers were killed while on duty during the fighting. Eighty-three health workers, most of whom were ambulance drivers, were injured. An assessment by the UN Development Programme, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and the Palestinian Ministry of Health found that 17 hospitals and 56 primary health care centers were damaged, including one hospital and five primary health centers that were completely destroyed during the fighting. Combatants on both sides of the conflict have allegedly violated international humanitarian law as it relates to the protection of civilian access to health care. There is credible information that Israeli forces have unlawfully targeted hospitals, clinics, ambulances, and health workers and that Palestinian armed groups used protected areas in and around schools and hospitals to store weapons and stage attacks.”
Medical Aid for Palestinians joined the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition in April. The Coalition seeks to promote the security of health workers and services threatened by war and unrest, to strengthen universal norms for the right to health and accountability for violators. MAP believes that the protection of health workers and infrastructure in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon is vital to the enjoyment of the right to health for all Palestinians.
In June, MAP will release a report detailing attacks on medical infrastructure and personnel during the 2014 attacks on Gaza, to coincide with the release of the UN Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry into the conflict.
You can read about MAP’s campaign to restock el-Wafa, the rehabilitation hospital completely destroyed during the conflict, here.