Israel Committing ‘Medical Genocide' In Gaza, UN Experts Say
NEW YORK, Aug 13 (Bernama-WAFA) -- Israel's deliberate destruction of Gaza's healthcare system amounts to "medical genocide," deliberately attacking and starving healthcare workers, paramedics, and hospitals to eliminate medical care in the besieged enclave, the Palestine News and Information Agency (WAFA) reported.
"As human beings and UN experts, we cannot remain silent in the face of the war crimes being committed before our eyes in Gaza," said Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, and Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
"In addition to witnessing an ongoing genocide, we are also witnessing a medical genocide - a contributing factor in the deliberate creation of conditions designed to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, which constitutes an act of genocide," they added.
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The experts warned that the apartheid regime targeting Palestinians in the occupied territory and the ongoing attacks on Gaza's healthcare system are exhausting the last remaining resources in the besieged and devastated enclave.
They said, "Health and care workers have been repeatedly targeted, detained, and tortured, and now, like the rest of the population, they are starving."
The United Nations reported that health and care workers have fainted due to lack of food and hunger, a violation not only of their right to health but also of their ability to perform their duties and jeopardising the care and treatment conditions necessary for their patients.
They added, "Ignoring the crimes that Israel continues to commit in Gaza sends a clear message to the world: the people of Gaza do not count, and their lives are worthless. Palestinians in Gaza are being denied their right to dignity, existence, and food."
'There is a moral duty on the international community to end the massacre and allow the people of Gaza to live on their land without fear of attack, killing, starvation, or the enduring reality of occupation and apartheid,' they said. 'States have failed in this duty, and the people trapped in the hell of Gaza are paying the ultimate price for this failure and indifference.'
They called for an immediate ceasefire, to hold Israel accountable, and to save what remains of Gaza's healthcare system to prevent the extermination of its population.
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