Conscience: Gaza European Hospital out of service deepens health disaster

The Dameer Association for Human Rights - Gaza said that it is following with great concern the situation of the health system in the Gaza Strip during the aggression and the ongoing crime of genocide that the Israeli occupation has been waging on the Gaza Strip since last October, and the collapse of the health system as a result of the direct targeting of hospitals and health centers and their being put out of service, in addition to targeting health cadres through bombing and direct field liquidation or forced displacement or arrest and practicing severe torture against them as a result of their work, targeting hospital buildings and destroying the infrastructure of the health sector and preventing the entry of pharmaceutical shipments and fuel. According to the follow-up of the Damir Foundation, all hospitals operating in the sector have gone out of service, leaving only two hospitals in the Gaza Strip: (Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the Central Governorate and the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Yunis Gov ernorate). On the morning of Sunday, July 1, 2024, based on the threat of the Israeli occupation and its publication of a field map showing and clarifying the boundaries of its ground operation east of Khan Yunis Governorate and the Al-Fakhari area, where the Gaza European Hospital is located, the medical devices and equipment inside the hospital were dismantled and transferred to the Nasser Medical Complex Hospital, which began to return to work gradually and simply. The Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Government Media Office officially announced that the hospital was out of service, which was providing major health services in light of the exit of hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip, and thus it went out of service as a result of the Israeli threats. Addameer Foundation considered that targeting hospitals and the health system in the Gaza Strip is a clear violation of the principles and standards of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention, which guarantees special protection for hospitals and health centers during the outbreak of armed conflicts and wars, and that targeting them constitutes a crime against humanity and amounts to a war crime. Al-Dameer Human Rights Foundation believes that, through its follow-up of the health system in the Gaza Strip, the European Gaza Hospital being out of service will lead to the loss of hope for patients and the wounded in the Gaza Strip to receive treatment, as the hospital is considered the largest hospital in providing services at the present time. Accordingly, Al-Dameer Human Rights Foundation demands the Special Rapporteur on health, Ms. Tlaling Mofokeng, to pressure the Israeli occupation to stop its aggression, the crime of genocide, and its direct targeting of hospitals, calling on the international community and the World Health Organization to intervene and re-operate the hospitals that have been out of service and to provide the Gaza Strip with equipment, pharmaceutical supplies, and fuel for hospitals throughout the Gaza Strip S ource: Maan News Agency