The Palestinian Association for Human Rights (Witness) warns
of the total collapse of the healthcare system in Gaza City, as Israeli
occupation forces continue to target hospitals and medical centers through
siege and direct shelling. This has led to more than 20 hospitals going out of
service, while only 7 hospitals remain partially operational, all of which are
threatened with complete shutdown due to the depletion of fuel, medicines, and
medical supplies.
(Witness) points out that Al-Shifa and Al-Hilu hospitals are
under a suffocating siege, with Israeli tanks surrounding their entrances and
shelling their surroundings, cutting off communication with medical staff and
preventing access to care for dozens of patients and newborns in incubators.
Al-Hilu Hospital alone hosts more than 90 people, including medical staff and
patients, among them 12 premature infants, trapped under a total blackout of
communications and internet.
(Witness) affirms that the destruction of hospitals and
depriving thousands of patients of their right to treatment constitutes a
full-fledged crime of genocide, and a flagrant violation of the Four Geneva
Conventions and Article (8) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court, which classifies attacks on medical facilities and personnel as war
crimes. Hundreds of patients—including children, women, and the wounded—are
facing imminent death amid unjustified international silence.
(Witness) holds the international community, the UN Security
Council, and the United Nations fully responsible for the continuation of these
crimes, warning that silence and inaction amount to direct complicity with the
occupation and grant it a green light to continue its policy of genocide
against the population of Gaza.
Accordingly, the Palestinian Association for Human Rights
(Witness) calls for:
▶ An immediate and sustained ceasefire and full
protection of hospitals and medical staff as protected civilian facilities.
▶ The opening of safe humanitarian corridors to allow
the entry of medicine, fuel, and medical supplies, and to enable patients and
the wounded to access treatment.
▶ An urgent intervention by the World Health
Organization and UN bodies to prevent the total collapse of the health system
in Gaza.
▶ Referring the crimes of the occupation to the
International Criminal Court as war crimes and crimes of genocide that do not
lapse with time.
▶ Providing urgent international protection for medical
facilities and personnel inside the Gaza Strip.
▶ Ending the targeting of hospitals and exposing
newborns and patients to certain death, which represents yet another dark
chapter in the record of Israeli crimes, and requires immediate and effective
action by the international community to stop the escalating humanitarian and
human rights catastrophe in Gaza.
The Palestinian Association for Human Rights (Witness)
Beirut – 30 September 2025