UN experts accuse Israel of committing “medical genocide” in Gaza

UN experts on Wednesday declared that the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system by the Israeli military amounts to “medical genocide,” accusing Israel of deliberately attacking and starving health workers, paramedics, and hospitals to eliminate medical care in the besieged enclave.

“As human beings and experts at the United Nations, we cannot remain silent in the face of the war crimes being committed before our eyes in Gaza,” said Tlang Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right to health, and Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.

They explained that, in addition to being witnesses to an ongoing genocide, they are also witnesses to a “medical genocide,” which contributes to the deliberate creation of conditions aimed at destroying Palestinians in Gaza and confirms the reality of acts of “genocide.”

The UN experts also warned that the apartheid system targeting Palestinians in the occupied territories and the ongoing attacks on Gaza’s healthcare system are straining the remaining resources in the besieged and devastated Strip.

They said, “Health and care workers have been repeatedly targeted, arrested, and tortured, and are now, like the rest of the population, being starved.”

The UN has previously 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 because it undermines their ability to perform their duties and harms the treatment and care conditions necessary to treat their patients.