NEW YORK: The Special Rapporteur on human rights, Tlaleng Mofokeng, called for the protection of health-care workers in the occupied Palestinian territory.
‘I remain shocked by Israel’s blatant disregard for the right to health in Gaza and the rest of the occupied territories,’ said Tlaleng Mofokeng, following the killing of Dr. Ziad Al-Dalo from Gaza while in Israeli custody.
She noted, Al-Dalo was an internal medicine doctor at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. He was detained along with other health-care workers while on duty at the hospital on 18 March 2024, during a raid by Israeli forces.
He died on 21 March while in custody, one of more than 885 health-care workers killed in Gaza and the West Bank since 7 October, including nurses, paramedics, doctors and other medical personnel. Many more have been injured, and the World Health Organization has reported 1,043 attacks on health centers in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
‘Israel must stop destroying and impeding the already limite
d functioning of the health system in Palestine, by protecting health care workers,’ said Mofokeng. ‘The practice of medicine is never a crime during conflict – but the targeted killing of health care workers is a crime,’ she said. ‘Israel must stop.’
She stressed that targeting health care workers and health facilities contravenes the fundamental right of individuals to access essential health care services, which is of paramount importance in times of conflict, and may constitute a war crime.
According to the World Health Organization, at least 128 health care workers remain in detention after being arbitrarily detained while carrying out their duties.
Mofokeng called for the immediate release of all health care workers arbitrarily detained in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, for prompt, independent and impartial investigations to be conducted, and for those who unlawfully detained and killed them to be held accountable.
‘The inability of a people to fully exercise their right to self-dete
rmination affects the enjoyment of all their fundamental rights, including the right to Health”.
The UN rapporteur called for an immediate ceasefire, an end to the occupation, and an end to the genocide.
Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA
