From all the innumerable horrors that have taken place since the beginning of the war, this new PHRI report and testimonies, detailing evidence by detained medical workers, nevertheless shook us to the core. As doctors, seeing our colleagues abducted from their workplaces, detained for months without charges in subhuman conditions, cruelly tortured, sexually abused, and denied medical treatment, is something we cannot live with, and neither should any of us.

Full Report | Full Testimonies

Three doctors and one paramedic are among the dozens who have died in detention. The exact cause of their deaths is unknown but we can only imagine what they endured during their last, terrifying moments.

Almost 150 medical workers are still incarcerated under these conditions and can still be saved if enough pressure is put on the Israeli government to release them. They are detained because they are Palestinians, because they are from Gaza, but also and importantly because they are healthcare workers.

Medical workers have a special protected status under the Geneva Convention. Why is that? And why do we believe the case of the doctors and healthcare workers of Gaza is unique, requiring our profession to unite in their defence? These are the reasons:

1. Medical workers have been targeted for the very fact of their profession: evidence is mounting that medical workers are specifically sought by the military for the purpose of gathering intelligence. The majority of medical detainees have had no indictment issued against them, and, as manifested in the PHRI report, were plainly informed that they were held simply for the purpose of gathering information without being charged with any offence.

2. The targeting of doctors as a weapon against the population: without medical staff to treat the civilian population, Gaza’s health care system has almost ceased to exist. The bombing and military invasion of the majority of Gaza’s hospitals, together with the killing, wounding, and enforced disappearance of medical personnel has consequences far beyond their own personal tragedy. It means the excess death of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians as well as the destruction of hope for Gaza’s rehabilitation and recovery.

3. Doctors have been targeted while doing their jobs: unlike other civilians who could at least try to run for safety, the doctors of Gaza followed the unique ethical code of their profession. They bravely did what we, as their colleagues, could only hope we’d have the courage to do in such an hour of calling: they stayed behind and took care of their patients. They did all that was in their power to save lives and alleviate pain in unimaginable conditions, risking and sacrificing their own lives in the process. In doing so, they defended the sanctity of our profession.

Now it is time for us to fight for them.

We urge everyone, but especially our fellow doctors and medical personnel, regardless of nationality, to unite in calling for the release of our colleagues. We call on you to raise awareness of their plight and join the worldwide campaign for their release.