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Palestinians inspect the destruction of Kamal Adwan hospital and the surrounding area in Beit Lahia, Gaza on December 29, 2024.
The recent raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza reflects a "pattern of attacks" on healthcare facilities across the enclave, said the United Nations.
As rights advocates and family members demanded that Israel release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the destroyed Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, the United Nations human rights office said Israeli attacks on healthcare infrastructure across Gaza for over a year raise "serious concerns" about the country's compliance with international law.
The "appalling destruction" of Kamal Adwan Hospital and the surrounding area is hardly an anomaly, said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in a new report, and instead reflects a "pattern of attacks" that started in November 2023 when Israel launched its first military operation against al-Shifa Medical Complex.
Months later, a second raid left al-Shifa in "complete ruin" by April 1, and officials reported that after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdrew they found three mass graves containing 80 corpses, including some "with catheters and cannulas still attached, suggesting they had been patients."
"As if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. "The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times."
The OHCHR's report documents attacks on hospitals between October 12, 2023 and June 30, 2024, before Kamal Adwan was destroyed in recent days.
Over that period, the IDF launched at least 136 strikes on at least 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities—killing and injuring patients and medical staff as well as other civilians and "causing significant damage, if not complete destruction of civilian infrastructure."
More than 500 medical professionals were killed in Gaza during the period covered by the report, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The OHCHR noted that the U.S.-backed IDF has apparently used MK 83 munitions in at least one airstrike on a hospital—one that was waged on January 10 on al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. MK 83 munitions are 1,000-pound bombs that have wide-area effects and are manufactured in the U.S., which has supplied Israel with at least $12.5 billion in military aid since October 7, 2023, and sends more than $3 billion per year to the IDF.
At least 12 people were reportedly killed in the al-Aqsa attack, which the OHCHR said raised "serious concerns of an indiscriminate attack."
The report noted that Israel has frequently claimed that Gaza hospitals are used by Hamas, but said that "insufficient information has so far been made available to substantiate these allegations, which have remained vague and broad, and in some cases appear contradicted by publicly available information."
OHCHR emphasized that even in "exceptional circumstances when medical personnel, ambulances, and hospitals lose their special protection because they fulfill the strict criteria to be considered military objectives," militaries must still observe international humanitarian law when attacking medical infrastructure.
"Intentionally directing attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are treated, provided they are not military objectives; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such, or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities, including the launching of an indiscriminate attack resulting in death or injury to civilians; and intentionally launching disproportionate attacks, are also war crimes," reads the report.
The report comes days after Israeli raids on Kamal Adwan Hospital left northern Gaza—where the IDF has been conducting a ground offensive for nearly three months—without any operating medical facilities. Israel has confirmed that Abu Safiya was detained for questioning, prompting outcry from medical professionals and rights groups across the globe.
Gaza Health Ministry Director General Muneer Alboursh said Tuesday that Abu Safiya is one of 450 medical personnel who have been detained by Israel and said the doctor is being held in Israel's Sde Teiman prison, where Israel is accused of torturing healthcare workers.
Türk demanded "independent, thorough, and transparent investigations" of all Israeli attacks on hospitals and medical workers, "and full accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law which have taken place."
"It must also be a priority for Israel, as the occupying power, to ensure and facilitate access to adequate healthcare for the Palestinian population," he said, "and for future recovery and reconstruction efforts to prioritize the restoration of the medical capacity which has been destroyed over the last 14 months of intense conflict."
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As rights advocates and family members demanded that Israel release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the destroyed Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, the United Nations human rights office said Israeli attacks on healthcare infrastructure across Gaza for over a year raise "serious concerns" about the country's compliance with international law.
The "appalling destruction" of Kamal Adwan Hospital and the surrounding area is hardly an anomaly, said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in a new report, and instead reflects a "pattern of attacks" that started in November 2023 when Israel launched its first military operation against al-Shifa Medical Complex.
Months later, a second raid left al-Shifa in "complete ruin" by April 1, and officials reported that after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdrew they found three mass graves containing 80 corpses, including some "with catheters and cannulas still attached, suggesting they had been patients."
"As if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. "The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times."
The OHCHR's report documents attacks on hospitals between October 12, 2023 and June 30, 2024, before Kamal Adwan was destroyed in recent days.
Over that period, the IDF launched at least 136 strikes on at least 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities—killing and injuring patients and medical staff as well as other civilians and "causing significant damage, if not complete destruction of civilian infrastructure."
More than 500 medical professionals were killed in Gaza during the period covered by the report, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The OHCHR noted that the U.S.-backed IDF has apparently used MK 83 munitions in at least one airstrike on a hospital—one that was waged on January 10 on al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. MK 83 munitions are 1,000-pound bombs that have wide-area effects and are manufactured in the U.S., which has supplied Israel with at least $12.5 billion in military aid since October 7, 2023, and sends more than $3 billion per year to the IDF.
At least 12 people were reportedly killed in the al-Aqsa attack, which the OHCHR said raised "serious concerns of an indiscriminate attack."
The report noted that Israel has frequently claimed that Gaza hospitals are used by Hamas, but said that "insufficient information has so far been made available to substantiate these allegations, which have remained vague and broad, and in some cases appear contradicted by publicly available information."
OHCHR emphasized that even in "exceptional circumstances when medical personnel, ambulances, and hospitals lose their special protection because they fulfill the strict criteria to be considered military objectives," militaries must still observe international humanitarian law when attacking medical infrastructure.
"Intentionally directing attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are treated, provided they are not military objectives; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such, or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities, including the launching of an indiscriminate attack resulting in death or injury to civilians; and intentionally launching disproportionate attacks, are also war crimes," reads the report.
The report comes days after Israeli raids on Kamal Adwan Hospital left northern Gaza—where the IDF has been conducting a ground offensive for nearly three months—without any operating medical facilities. Israel has confirmed that Abu Safiya was detained for questioning, prompting outcry from medical professionals and rights groups across the globe.
Gaza Health Ministry Director General Muneer Alboursh said Tuesday that Abu Safiya is one of 450 medical personnel who have been detained by Israel and said the doctor is being held in Israel's Sde Teiman prison, where Israel is accused of torturing healthcare workers.
Türk demanded "independent, thorough, and transparent investigations" of all Israeli attacks on hospitals and medical workers, "and full accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law which have taken place."
"It must also be a priority for Israel, as the occupying power, to ensure and facilitate access to adequate healthcare for the Palestinian population," he said, "and for future recovery and reconstruction efforts to prioritize the restoration of the medical capacity which has been destroyed over the last 14 months of intense conflict."
As rights advocates and family members demanded that Israel release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the destroyed Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, the United Nations human rights office said Israeli attacks on healthcare infrastructure across Gaza for over a year raise "serious concerns" about the country's compliance with international law.
The "appalling destruction" of Kamal Adwan Hospital and the surrounding area is hardly an anomaly, said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in a new report, and instead reflects a "pattern of attacks" that started in November 2023 when Israel launched its first military operation against al-Shifa Medical Complex.
Months later, a second raid left al-Shifa in "complete ruin" by April 1, and officials reported that after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdrew they found three mass graves containing 80 corpses, including some "with catheters and cannulas still attached, suggesting they had been patients."
"As if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. "The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times."
The OHCHR's report documents attacks on hospitals between October 12, 2023 and June 30, 2024, before Kamal Adwan was destroyed in recent days.
Over that period, the IDF launched at least 136 strikes on at least 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities—killing and injuring patients and medical staff as well as other civilians and "causing significant damage, if not complete destruction of civilian infrastructure."
More than 500 medical professionals were killed in Gaza during the period covered by the report, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The OHCHR noted that the U.S.-backed IDF has apparently used MK 83 munitions in at least one airstrike on a hospital—one that was waged on January 10 on al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. MK 83 munitions are 1,000-pound bombs that have wide-area effects and are manufactured in the U.S., which has supplied Israel with at least $12.5 billion in military aid since October 7, 2023, and sends more than $3 billion per year to the IDF.
At least 12 people were reportedly killed in the al-Aqsa attack, which the OHCHR said raised "serious concerns of an indiscriminate attack."
The report noted that Israel has frequently claimed that Gaza hospitals are used by Hamas, but said that "insufficient information has so far been made available to substantiate these allegations, which have remained vague and broad, and in some cases appear contradicted by publicly available information."
OHCHR emphasized that even in "exceptional circumstances when medical personnel, ambulances, and hospitals lose their special protection because they fulfill the strict criteria to be considered military objectives," militaries must still observe international humanitarian law when attacking medical infrastructure.
"Intentionally directing attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are treated, provided they are not military objectives; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such, or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities, including the launching of an indiscriminate attack resulting in death or injury to civilians; and intentionally launching disproportionate attacks, are also war crimes," reads the report.
The report comes days after Israeli raids on Kamal Adwan Hospital left northern Gaza—where the IDF has been conducting a ground offensive for nearly three months—without any operating medical facilities. Israel has confirmed that Abu Safiya was detained for questioning, prompting outcry from medical professionals and rights groups across the globe.
Gaza Health Ministry Director General Muneer Alboursh said Tuesday that Abu Safiya is one of 450 medical personnel who have been detained by Israel and said the doctor is being held in Israel's Sde Teiman prison, where Israel is accused of torturing healthcare workers.
Türk demanded "independent, thorough, and transparent investigations" of all Israeli attacks on hospitals and medical workers, "and full accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law which have taken place."
"It must also be a priority for Israel, as the occupying power, to ensure and facilitate access to adequate healthcare for the Palestinian population," he said, "and for future recovery and reconstruction efforts to prioritize the restoration of the medical capacity which has been destroyed over the last 14 months of intense conflict."