Groups representing UK clinicians, including nurses and midwives, have called on the government to take action to stop attacks on health workers in Gaza, in the wake of a report for the United Nations.
The report, published by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, claimed Israel was deliberately targeting the Palestinian health system.
“We call for the UK government to take concerted action to end the targeting of healthcare workers and health systems”
Alliance of Healthcare Professionals
In the report, dating from earlier in the autumn, the commission wrote: “Israel has implemented a concerted policy to destroy the healthcare system of Gaza.”
It concluded that the invasion of Gaza, sparked after the attack on Israeli settlements on 7 October 2023, had resulted in the “destruction” of what it dubbed an “already weak” health system.
In a recent response to the report, the Alliance of Healthcare Professionals said: “Healthcare staff everywhere must be able to work without the imposition of violence and threat to their lives.”
The alliance comprises eight UK-based organisations, including the British Arab Nursing and Midwifery Association (BANMA), and issued its statement in the form of an open letter on 28 October.
As well as condemning attacks on health workers and hospitals, it called on UK government ministers to attempt to step in to prevent further deaths.
The alliance highlighted a claim made by the UN commission, but rejected by the Israeli government, that there was “overwhelming evidence of war crimes” in Gaza.
The letter stated: “We stand firmly in solidarity with our Palestinian and international visiting healthcare colleagues who are delivering care in harrowing circumstances, and condemn the ongoing violent attacks being inflicted upon them and their patients.”
Describing incidents in northern Gaza, the letter said: “It has been appalling to see video evidence of the latest military attacks against Kemal Adwan Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital and Al Awda Hospital.”
“We call for the United Kingdom government to now extend beyond stagnating rhetoric and take concerted action to end the targeting of healthcare workers and health systems,” the letter said.
It added: “The government must enable immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access, and leverage all political mechanisms in its power to insist that a ceasefire is enacted.”
Separately, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) issued a statement from its council in response to the UN commission report, condemning “every attack on nursing staff and their patients”.
“The UK government must work with international partners to demand an end to the deliberate targeting of health workers and health systems,” the RCN council said.
It added: “We stand in solidarity with our colleagues across the region who are delivering care in impossible circumstances.
“Nursing staff everywhere must be able to work without the threat of violence or obstruction to the delivery of care. Those who deliberately target nursing staff, health workers and health infrastructure should face swift justice.
“The RCN has also called for the immediate release of hostages in Gaza. It is vital that all those held captive have access to health care and are treated in accordance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
The UN commission’s annual report is its third since it was set up in 2021 as an open-ended fact-finding mission by the UN Human Rights Council.
“Nursing staff everywhere must be able to work without the threat of violence or obstruction to the delivery of care”
RCN Council
The commission has previously faced criticism from both the US and Israel regarding its ongoing role and its findings.
In its latest report, it said: “Israeli security forces have deliberately killed, wounded, arrested, detained, mistreated and tortured medical personnel and targeted medical vehicles, constituting the war crimes of wilful killing and mistreatment and the crime against humanity of extermination.
“Israeli authorities carried out such acts while tightening the siege of the Gaza Strip, resulting in fuel, food, water, medicines and medical supplies not reaching hospitals, while also drastically reducing permits for patients to leave the territory for medical treatment.”
The report also condemned raids on a number of hospitals in the Gaza Strip, finding no evidence, it said, to support claims that some of them were being used for “military purposes”.
Further criticism in the report focused on the blockading of aid into Gaza and excessive force by the Israel Defence Force, as well as condemning the initial Hamas attack, which impacted medical staff and facilities in Israel.
A UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson told Nursing Times: “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire, with access to basic services like healthcare worsening.
“Israel must ensure health workers in Gaza can carry out their duties in a safe and secure environment and civilians must be able to receive vital care.
“All parties must comply with international humanitarian law. The UK is committed to supporting humanitarian efforts. That’s why we are matching donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee Middle East Humanitarian Appeal to help provide vital supplies including lifesaving medicine, and given £5.5m to UK-Med to run their field hospitals in Gaza.”
They added: “We are also providing £6m to UNICEF, which will help tens of thousands of Gazans access food and water, as well as health, education and wellbeing services.”
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