Renowned doctor killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza
Three other doctors were among the 70 healthcare workers killed, along with the chief nurses of the Indonesian hospital and al-Nasser children's hospital, one of Gaza's most senior midwives, a senior radiology technician and dozens of young medical graduates and trainee nurses.
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On the first day of Eid, June 6, nine healthcare workers were killed in one day in airstrikes in the north of Gaza, while they were sheltering with their families, according to HWW.
Al-Sultan's death is a tragic loss where his expertise has been invaluable with the unfathomable catastrophe facing Palestinians, the director of HWW, Muath Alser said.
'The killing of Dr Marwan al-Sultan by the Israeli military is a catastrophic loss to Gaza and the entire medical community, and will have a devastating impact on Gaza's healthcare system,' said Alser.
'This is part of a much longer and systematic atrocious targeting of healthcare workers sanctioned by impunity. This is a tragic loss of life, but also an obliteration of their decades of lifesaving medical expertise and care at a time when the situation facing Palestinian civilians is unfathomably catastrophic,' Alser added.
'We are in great shock and grief. He cannot be replaced,' said Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.
'He was a prominent scholar and one of the two remaining cardiologists left in Gaza. Thousands of heart patients will suffer as a result of his killing. His only fault was that he was a doctor. We have no option but to be steadfast, but the sense of loss is devastating.'
The total number of healthcare workers who have lost their lives in military attacks since the war began in October 2023 now exceeds 1400, according to the latest UN figures.
Insecurity Insight, a conflict data NGO, said it has verified the deaths of hundreds of healthcare workers who have been killed inside health facilities.
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