&w=1024&resize=1024,0&ssl=1 "Israel in the lens for destroying the healthcare system in Gaza news from the world")
A United Nations investigation found Thursday that Israel pursued a coordinated policy of destroying Gaza's health care system during the Gaza War, amounting to both war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A statement by former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay accompanying the report accused Israel of “ruthless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities” during the war, which began in October with deadly cross-border attacks by Hamas militants in southern Israel. 7, 2023.
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“Children in particular have borne the brunt of this attack, suffering directly and indirectly from the breakdown of health systems,” said Pillay, whose 24-page report covering the first 10 months of the war will be presented to the UN General Assembly. October 30.
The Israeli prime minister's office and his foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Israel says militants in Gaza are operating from the cover of built-up residential areas, including private homes, schools and hospitals, and will attack them wherever they appear while trying to avoid civilian casualties. Hamas has denied hiding fighters, weapons and command positions among civilians.
The UN statement on the investigation also accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing and torturing medical workers, attacking medical vehicles and obstructing patients from leaving the besieged Gaza Strip.
He cited as an example the death in February of a Palestinian girl named Hind Rajab along with family members and two doctors who came to save her from Israeli fire during her evacuation. Reports indicate that the ambulance was hit by a tank shell 50 meters from the family, despite prior coordination with Israeli security forces.
The World Health Organization says more than 10,000 patients requiring urgent treatment have been prevented from leaving Gaza since the Rafah border with Egypt was closed in May. The Palestinian health ministry said nearly 1,000 doctors were killed in Gaza last year, in what the WHO called an “irreversible loss and a huge blow to the health care system.”
In cases where Israeli forces ordered the evacuation of four hospitals, the investigation found that the orders were “impossible” because they did not give doctors time to evacuate hundreds of patients and Israeli forces failed to help them.
It also said it was investigating the treatment of both Palestinian prisoners in Israel and hostages held by Hamas militants during the October 7 attack, and accused both sides of torture and sexual violence.
The commission of inquiry has broad powers to gather evidence and identify suspected perpetrators of international crimes committed in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. It bases its findings on a variety of sources, including interviews with victims and witnesses, testimonies and satellite imagery.
The commission has previously alleged that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in the early stages of the Gaza war and that Israel's actions also constituted crimes against humanity, causing massive civilian losses. This term is reserved for the most serious international crimes committed knowingly as part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians.
Israel has not cooperated with the investigation, which it says has an anti-Israel bias. The commission accused Israel of obstructing its work and preventing investigators from entering Israeli and Palestinian territories.
Sometimes evidence collected by UN-led agencies forms the basis for war crimes prosecutions and may be used by the International Criminal Court.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been modified by Business Standards staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
