Following Israel's 27 December attack on the last functioning hospital in north Gaza, the Security Council today heard calls for urgent international action to protect civilians and ensure accountability, including independent investigations into these incidents and the alleged misuse of medical facilities by Hamas.
"A human-rights catastrophe continues to unfold in Gaza before the eyes of the world," said Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Citing a recent report by his Office, he pointed to a pattern of attacks on hospitals between 7 October 2023 and 30 June 2024 that begin with Israeli airstrikes and are followed by ground raids and the detention of patients and staff - "leaving the hospital essentially non-functional". Meanwhile, Hamas and other armed groups continue to reportedly operate behind civilian infrastructure, including health facilities, exposing them to attacks.
Israel's recent attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital - the last functioning hospital in north Gaza - "reflects the patterns of attacks documented in the report", he said, stating that Israeli military operations in and around hospitals across Gaza "have had a terrible impact, precisely at a time of massive demands on healthcare due to the ongoing conflict". Underscoring that military operations must always distinguish between military targets and civilians, he observed: "The use of heavy weapons against hospitals is difficult to reconcile with that principle."
While noting that Israel has alleged that hospitals were being improperly used for military purposes, he stated that Israel "has not provided sufficient information to substantiate many of these claims". Against that backdrop, he called for independent, thorough and transparent investigations into all Israeli attacks on hospitals, healthcare infrastructure and medical personnel, as well as the alleged misuse of such facilities.
"Hospitals have become battlegrounds in Gaza," added Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the West Bank and Gaza, noting that the Strip's health sector is being "systematically dismantled and pushed to the breaking point". Only 16 of 36 hospitals in Gaza remain partially functional, and most hospitals lack the capacity to treat chronic diseases and complex injuries. Further, the pace of medical evacuations remains extremely slow, while the entry of supplies into and across Gaza is hampered by restrictions and delays. "To date, WHO has verified 654 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza," he added.
In north Gaza, only Al-Awda Hospital remains minimally functional following the recent attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital, he noted. However, recent reports indicate that this facility, too, has been ordered to evacuate. With this, he said, "the last health line in north Gaza is at a risk of being severed". Yet, "the health system of Gaza has not collapsed", he said, pointing to the restoration of Al-Shifa Hospital and Nasser Medical Complex. Urging that hospitals in north Gaza become functional again, he also called for expedited medical evacuations, sustained access to hospitals, increased flow of aid and an urgent ceasefire.
Tanya Haj Hassan, Medical Practitioner at Medical Aid for Palestinians, then shared the perspectives of healthcare workers in Gaza "who have been sending SOS messages to this Council for over a year". "They tell us that they are targets because they're healthcare workers - that wearing scrubs and white coats is like wearing a target on their backs," she added. "I never thought that international law or human-rights institutions would allow 2 million people to be locked in a cage and systematically massacred," she stressed.
"I speak to you today in disbelief that all of our repeated, firsthand and utterly damning testimonies have still not moved the world to meaningful action," she continued. Some 96 per cent of Gaza's children believe their death is imminent, while many wish for their own death. Just in the past week, seven infants have died from hypothermia, "meaning they literally froze to their death", she said, adding: "I shudder to even estimate the number of children who've lost their parents and have been orphaned for life."
