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Days of Palestine
02-07-2025
- Health
- Days of Palestine
NGOs demand Israel release detained Palestinian health workers
DaysofPal – A coalition of 25 international organizations has issued a strong call for the immediate and unconditional release of Palestinian healthcare workers unlawfully detained by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. The joint statement, titled 'Release the Doctors,' was released on June 30 by leading human rights and humanitarian groups including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International USA, Médecins Sans Frontières, MedGlobal, and Physicians for Human Rights, among others. According to the statement, at least 185 medical and humanitarian personnel, including doctors, nurses, ambulance crews, and workers from NGOs such as MedGlobal and Children Not Numbers, have been detained by Israeli authorities as of February 2025. Many of those held remain in unknown conditions. Some who have been released have reported suffering abuse during detention, while others have tragically died in custody. These detentions take place amid a broader pattern of what the NGOs describe as a systematic assault on Gaza's healthcare system during Israel's ongoing war, now entering its twenty-first month. Since October 2023, nearly 700 attacks have been documented against hospitals, clinics, ambulances, and shelters, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,500 health workers and 460 aid workers. The statement notes that the detention and targeting of health personnel and infrastructure constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law, including protections enshrined in the Geneva Conventions and reaffirmed by UN Security Council Resolution 2286, which prohibits attacks on medical personnel and facilities in conflict zones. The coalition warns that these actions, if left unchecked, will set a dangerous global precedent. 'If health workers can be detained and attacked in one of the world's most closely watched conflicts with impunity,' the statement reads, 'it sets a dangerous precedent for the treatment of health workers around the world.' The organizations stress that these detentions not only violate legal norms but also jeopardize life-saving care for Palestinians, many of whom are already cut off from medical treatment due to the destruction of Gaza's health infrastructure. With health services collapsing under siege and displacement, the signatories call on Israel to immediately release all unlawfully held health workers and to end its attacks on the medical system. They also urge the international community to take urgent steps to uphold the protection of healthcare in conflict and hold violators accountable. The joint demand reflects mounting global concern over the safety of medical professionals in Gaza, where hospitals and field clinics are often among the first targets, and where doctors and nurses have become prisoners instead of protectors. Shortlink for this post:
NBC News
30-06-2025
- Health
- NBC News
Fears grow for Gaza hospital chief who walked toward Israeli tanks before arrest
Surrounded by bomb-struck buildings, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya walked down the middle of a road strewn with debris, his white medical coat standing out against the rubble as he made his way toward Israeli tanks. The footage, taken in late December and verified by NBC News, is the last time the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza was seen before he was taken into custody by Israeli soldiers laying siege to the complex. Before his detention, Abu Safiya, 51, who became the head of Kamal Adwan in 2024, was the lead physician in Gaza for MedGlobal, a Chicago-based nonprofit that has partnered with local health care workers since 2018 and arranges volunteer medical missions to the enclave. The organization's co-founder, Dr. John Kahler, told NBC News in a phone interview on Thursday that he was 'very afraid' that Abu Safiya won't 'make it out alive' from detention. He added that the physician was 'a friend of mine, a hero, mentor,' who, among other things, had helped to establish nutrition stabilization centers in the Gaza Strip. On visits to Gaza, Kahler said, he had never seen any indication that Abu Safiya was linked with the Hamas militant group that has run the enclave since 2007, or any suggestion that it was operating inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital. Five other members of MedGlobal's team have also been detained, and on Monday, the organization called for the release of scores of health workers detained by Israel, including Abu Safiya. 'Israeli authorities have repeatedly and blatantly violated international humanitarian law in repeated detentions of and attacks on health care workers,' it said in a joint letter published on Monday alongside several other organizations, including Human Rights Watch. Their call for the 'immediate, unconditional release' of detained health workers came as concern is growing for the health of Abu Safiya, who has been detained for more than six months without charge, according to his colleagues, family and legal team. Abu Safiya's son Elias Abu Safiya said in a WhatsApp message that he was concerned for his father's physical and mental health, which he said legal advocates had told him were in a 'difficult' state, although he added they had not been able to visit him for some time. After initially denying he was in custody, the Israeli military said in a January statement that Abu Safiya had been involved 'in terrorist activities' and held 'a rank' in Hamas that it said had made the Kamal Adwan Hospital a stronghold during the war. But according to the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, a nongovernmental organization that advocates for the people of Gaza and has been providing legal support to Abu Safiya, no formal charges had been made against the hospital director as of Thursday. Asked for an update on Abu Safiya's case on Friday, the Israeli military did not immediately respond. But a spokesperson for the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights said Thursday that he was still being detained in Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank, where he faced dire conditions, inadequate food and overcrowded cells. In a statement to NBC News on Friday, the Israeli Defense Forces said it acts in accordance with both the country's 'and international law, and protects the rights of individuals held in detention facilities under its responsibility.' It added that 'any abuse of detainees, whether during their detention or during interrogation, violates the law and the directives of the IDF and as such is strictly prohibited.' Abu Safiya's family and colleagues have staunchly denied the allegations against him, while United Nations officials and rights groups have also questioned the accusations and called on Israel authorities to release him. Calling the accusations 'ridiculous,' Kahler said his colleague was a 'heroic physician' whose 'moral compass is directly pointing due North.' While he remains behind bars, Israeli forces have continued their assault on Gaza's health care system, which has led to the destruction of or damage to hospitals in the enclave, according to World Health Organization data. Israel launched its offensive following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict. Since then, more than 56,000 people have been killed in Gaza, with thousands more seriously injured, according to Palestinian health officials in the enclave. Thousands of Palestinians are held by Israel under a controversial practice known as 'administrative detention,' which Israeli authorities use to hold people without trial or other usual legal proceedings, often based on alleged secret evidence they do not share with detainees, their families or legal representatives. The practice has been roundly criticized by human rights groups that say it is used to hold Palestinians indefinitely without charge and due process, while Israel has defended the practice as a necessary security measure. In their letter on Monday, MedGlobal and the other organizations said that as of February 2025, at least 185 health care workers from Gaza and the West Bank remained in Israeli custody. Their conditions were 'unknown,' it added. 'Many of those released have reported severe abuse, while some have died in custody,' it said.
Al Arabiya
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
UN expert and trauma surgeon shed light on Gaza's deepening crisis
In this episode of Global News Today, presented by Tom Burges Watson, we examine the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We speak with UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese about the legal and human rights concerns in the occupied Palestinian territories. Albanese shares urgent insights on civilian suffering, Gaza's dire conditions, and the issue of global accountability. We also hear from a trauma surgeon who's worked inside Gaza's overstretched hospitals. The doctor shares harrowing first-hand experiences – from operating amid bombardment to the emotional weight of treating wounded children. And we cover Israeli forces intercepting a Gaza-bound aid boat carrying activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, who was prevented from reaching the besieged enclave. Guests: Feroze Sidhwa – Trauma surgeon who addressed the UN Security Council meeting last week on what he has seen in Gaza working as a MedGlobal volunteer in Khan Younis.
The National
29-05-2025
- Health
- The National
Gaza war unlike any conflict I've seen, says doctor
Having volunteered in war zones such as Yemen and Syria, paediatrician Dr John Kahler lists three elements that make the conflict in Gaza stand out from others. The first is the "scale and scope" of the war, meaning all of Gaza's two million-plus people are in the firing line, said Dr Kahler, who co-founded an aid group called MedGlobal, which has a team of medics on the front line. It means there is "not a single safe area" in Gaza, including for Dr Kahler's team of volunteers, he told The National. The second is what he called the "paradox between aid availability and accessibility". After an 11-week blockade by Israel, supplies began trickling back into Gaza last week – but although hundreds of lorries are lined up at the border, Palestinians remain desperate for food. Tom Fletcher, the UN's under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator, has described the volume of aid as "a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed". "There's a big step between getting it in, and getting it cooked, and getting it to the people who need it," Dr Kahler said of the aid and food being delivered. "And even if you get it in, it has to be distributed in a war zone under active fire. Now, you see it ramped up to a level of just barbaric, mass denial of aid, as well as food." The third issue, Dr Kahler emphasised, is the inability to exit or escape the enclave. "There's tens of thousands of children injured and adults injured and cancer patients that need to get out and get treated, or they're going to die," he said. Babies in grave danger Israel's attacks have showed no signs of slowing down, despite countries and international organisations cranking up the pressure for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The 19 months of conflict are long enough for children to have been born in the war zone, twice over, to mothers who have not had adequate nutrition and have been psychologically stressed throughout their pregnancies. Dr Kahler described the war as an unnatural experiment on mothers and their babies. "It's apocalyptic. It isn't post-apocalyptic, it's ongoing," he said. "Even when the bombing stops, and the gates are open, and the world turns [to] some place else, those effects are gonna be felt for years and they won't ever be attributed back to this war, but they'll be as much on this war as the kids who are amputees." More than 80,000 people are in danger of being left disabled in Gaza as a result of the war, as reported by the UN Health Cluster. However, psychological and physiological damage inflicted by the war and the mass starvation could also be long-lasting issues. For the development of a child, the "real key is in utero, when they are being carried", Dr Kahler said. Starvation at that time affects the growth of a foetus and the development of its brain, he added. There has been a severe shortage of basic necessities and even when some flour is available, consuming bread only is "dead calories" that can satiate hunger momentarily, but provide no nutritional value for the mothers or their babies, he said. With a lack of iron-rich foods during pregnancy, mothers often develop anaemia – their blood count drops, causing them to feel lethargic and have trouble taking in oxygen. In that case, iron pills would typically be prescribed but with Gaza's humanitarian crisis, mothers are left to fend for themselves and their hungry children. "Little babies don't complain, they cry," Dr Kahler said. "And so, now you got a baby crying because she's not getting fed. You got two other little kids, one is two and one is four, that are crying because they want that food – all of that adds on the psychology of the mother, which then adds to the inability to actually nurture." Gaza on the verge of famine - in pictures 'Gaza is a toxic dump' With bombs and air strikes raining over the cities, no rubbish collected for almost two years and water infrastructure destroyed, Gaza's health crisis worsens by the day. "Gaza is a toxic dump," Dr Kahler said. "I don't care whether the Israelis or Palestinians live there. It's a toxic dump, meaning there's been all of these bombs that have been dropped, all these buildings that you see blown up, all of the toxic chemicals are pulverised and then just settle into the ground. "The chemicals are carcinogenic, there's no question about that," he added. This could lead to an outbreak of thyroid disease and cancer among children and adults, creating a need for thyroid testing. "Every baby needs to have developmental testing, and you have to have a registry of all those kids that have been born since October 7," he said, referring to the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023 that triggered the war. "When the mother is stressed, the baby feels the stress," he added. While children over five years old, along with adolescents and adults, may well recover when they receive adequate nutrition, there is a real danger for babies and toddlers. "It's a generational catastrophe," he said. As for Gazan men, they are being "either jailed or killed", Dr Kahler added. "This is what ethnic cleansing is. It isn't the violence against people, it's what it does to the community, to the population at large."
Time Magazine
19-05-2025
- Health
- Time Magazine
$25 Butter and $40 Eggs: The Search for Food in Gaza
When Reham Alkahlout, a mother of four, scours the markets in Al-Nasr, Gaza, she is gripped by a gnawing anxiety spurred by rows of scarce stalls, the acrid scent of burnt wood and plastic, and a scattering of overpriced essentials—if any are available at all. Once vibrant with produce and daily bustle, markets have been hollowed out by months of siege, bombardment, and economic collapse. Since Israeli forces resumed offensive operations on March 18, the price of flour has climbed by 5,000 percent, residents say, and cooking oil by 1,200 percent. 'No one can afford to buy,' says Alkahlout, 33, a psychological counselor working at a school housing the displaced. 'Sometimes we are forced to purchase small amounts just to feed our children.' Famine, which has loomed over the enclave for much of the 19-month war, is now imminent, according to international aid groups. The groups, led by the U.N., base their assessment on a complex formula known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. The most recent report, released May 12, found the whole of Gaza qualified as an 'Emergency,' or at critical risk of famine. Some 470,000 residents (22 percent) had reached 'Catastrophe,' defined as 'starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels.' Food prices tell the same story of scarcity. Residents of Gaza's north say a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of rice that cost $3 in February is now $10. A cucumber costs 7 times more. Baby formula has quadrupled and the price of a can of peas is up 1,000 percent. Some items, like fruit and chicken, simply cannot be obtained. Israel controls what enters the Strip, and imposed a total blockade on aid on March 2 with the collapse of a two-month ceasefire. The New York Times reported on May 13 that specialists in the Israeli military share the assessment of aid groups that starvation has become an immediate danger. ' The first symptom of hunger is pain,' says Dr. John Kahler, who worked in Gaza last year as co-founder of MedGlobal, a Chicago-based NGO that provides emergency response and health programs to vulnerable communities. 'And that pain doesn't go away. It isn't like it gets better or you forget it.' Civilians interviewed by TIME from Gaza described an increasingly desperate search for basic necessities. Alwaheidi, who resides in Sheikh Redwan near Gaza City, fears the possibility that, any day now, she may be unable to provide for her children. Nineteen months of war, triggered by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks that killed approximately 1,200 people inside Israel and took some 250 captive, has resulted in over 50,000 Palestinian deaths and the destruction of much of Gaza—including the systems that fed residents during previous wars. Collapse of Communal Kitchens Community kitchens in Gaza, once a critical safety net for thousands of families, have been decimated. The communal spaces offer a hub for volunteers to prepare and distribute free meals, but only a fraction remain operational, leaving massive gaps in emergency food provision. With cooking gas prices increasing by 2,400% and flour by over 5,600%, according to residents, the facilities can no longer prepare food at scale. 'The whole concept of community kitchens that we started during the war is almost entirely going to shut down because there are no supplies anymore,' says Juliette Touma, director of communications for UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East). 'The prices of everything have increased massively.' World Central Kitchen (WCK), a nonprofit that provides meals to communities impacted by disasters and humanitarian crises, on May 7 announced it was forced to halt cooking in Gaza. 'The borders need to open for World Central Kitchen to be able to feed people in need,' said WCK Gaza response director Wadhah Hubaishi. 'If given full access to our infrastructure, partnerships, and incoming supplies, we are capable of providing hungry families in Gaza with 500,000 meals a day.' Looting Thousands of aid trucks wait at the Gaza border, blocked by Israel, which maintains that Hamas—governing the enclave since its 2007 election win—is diverting much of the aid. 'During the war, Israel allowed humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza, and facilitated it,' said Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar in a statement. 'But Hamas stole that aid from the people and earned its money from it.' Residents say they fear looting, which tends to worsen with shortages. 'About a week ago, vegetable shops in the Al-Nasr, Al-Shati, and Sheikh Radwan areas were robbed,' says Reham Alkahlout, a mother and resident of Al-Nasr, also in Gaza's north. 'How can a family breadwinner meet the family's needs when there is no monthly income? Some people resort to theft,' she says. The Associated Press reported that both armed groups and civilians have participated in looting aid warehouses and shops in northern Gaza. Hamas has acknowledged executing individuals accused of looting and announced a 5,000-member force to combat armed criminals. UNRWA's main complex in Gaza has been targeted by looters, as have markets and community kitchens. 'We've seen individual looters. We've also seen organized crime, and we've lost quite a lot of aid that was taken by the looters,' says Touma, the spokesperson. 'At the same time, when the ceasefire started and we started seeing more aid coming in, the looting decreased significantly.' The Maternal and Child Health Crisis The impact of Gaza's food shortages falls with particular severity on pregnant women and children. Since the aid blockade began in March, 57 children have reportedly died from the effects of malnutrition, according to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Health Ministry. A malnourished mother struggles to produce nutritious breast milk. Their diets are extremely limited, consisting mainly of whatever sparse rations they can obtain, often lacking the 'very, very specific protein and micronutrients and vitamins for their children to thrive,' says Kahler of MedGlobal, which has two nutrition centers still open, supplying caloric dense food to infants to mothers. 'Most of these surviving women and children haven't had a real night's sleep in over 18 months. The accumulated effects of sleep deprivation on decision making and metabolic disease are enormous.' The same reality confronts every family. 'We go to sleep every day fearing that we will lose a member of our family,' says Alwaheidi. 'And we do not know how long we will be able to provide food for our children.'
