Gaza: UN human rights experts said on Wednesday that Israel's deliberate destruction of Gaza's healthcare system amounts to "medical genocide," accusing Israel of deliberately attacking and starving healthcare workers, paramedics, and hospitals to eliminate medical care in the besieged enclave. "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, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, and Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, the experts emphasized that in addition to witnessing an ongoing genocide, there is also a medical genocide occurring in Gaza. They highlighted that this situation contributes to the deliberate creation of conditions designed to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, which constitutes an act of genocide. The experts warned that the apartheid regime targeting Palestinians in the occupied territory, along with the ongoing attacks on Gaza's healthcare system, are depleting the enclave's last remaining resources.
The experts stated that 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, thereby jeopardizing the care and treatment conditions necessary for their patients.
They expressed concern that ignoring the crimes committed by Israel in Gaza sends a message to the world that the people of Gaza do not count, and their lives are deemed worthless. Palestinians in Gaza are being denied their right to dignity, existence, and food. The experts emphasized the moral duty of 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.
Furthermore, they criticized states for failing in their duty, noting that the people trapped in Gaza are paying the ultimate price for this failure and indifference. They called for an immediate ceasefire, accountability for Israel, and efforts to save what remains of Gaza's healthcare system to prevent the extermination of its population.
