Middle East conflict
UN calls for investigation into attacks on clinics in Gaza
Updated 12/31/2024 – 4:56 p.mReading time: 1 min.
Israel has attacked numerous medical facilities. Human rights activists see the health system in the Gaza Strip on the verge of collapse. Does Hamas use clinics as bases?
Israeli attacks on hospitals in the Gaza Strip could constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, according to UN human rights activists. The attacks have brought the Palestinian territory’s health system “to the brink of complete collapse,” said a report from the UN human rights office in Geneva.
Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called for an independent and thorough investigation into the attacks. “As if the relentless bombing and catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip were not enough, the only sanctuary where Palestinians should feel safe has become a death trap,” he said.
In the report covering the period between October 2023 and June 2024, at least 27 clinics and 12 other medical facilities were hit in 136 attacks. The human rights office spoke of “significant” numbers of victims.
Israel has usually justified such operations by saying that hospitals were used by Hamas for military purposes. However, Israel has not yet provided any solid evidence of this, the report said.
Targeted attacks on non-military clinics and disproportionate attacks on civilians are war crimes, the UN experts emphasized. If this was part of a large-scale, systematic attack against the civilian population, it could be considered a crime against humanity, it said.
