<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s attacks on hospitals \u2018should be investigated as war crimes\u2019: HRW | Israel-Palestine conflict News<\/p>\n
Health facilities and ambulances have protected status under international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch affirms.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Israel\u2019s repeated attacks on medical facilities, health personnel and ambulances in Gaza should be \u201cinvestigated as\u00a0war crimes\u201d, international NGO Human Rights Watch has said.<\/p>\n The Israeli military\u2019s \u201capparently unlawful attacks\u201d are further destroying Gaza\u2019s healthcare system at a time when medics have unprecedented numbers of severely injured patients, and hospitals have run out of medicine and basic equipment, the group said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite the Israeli military\u2019s claims on November 5, 2023, of \u2018Hamas\u2019s cynical use of hospitals\u2019, no evidence put forward would justify depriving hospitals and ambulances of their protected status under\u00a0international humanitarian law,\u201d HRW added.<\/p>\n A war crime is a serious violation of international humanitarian law, committed with criminal intent. HRW urged the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israel\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n As of November 10, two-thirds of primary healthcare facilities and half of all hospitals in Gaza are not functioning, according to the United Nations. And as of November 12, at least 521 people, including 16 medical workers, have been killed in 137 \u201cattacks on health care\u201d in Gaza, the World Health Organization said.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael\u2019s repeated attacks damaging hospitals and harming healthcare workers, already hard hit by an unlawful blockade, have devastated Gaza\u2019s healthcare infrastructure,\u201d said A Kayum Ahmed, special adviser on the right to health at HRW. \u201cThe strikes on hospitals have killed hundreds of people and put many patients at grave risk because they\u2019re unable to receive proper medical care.\u201d<\/p>\n Between October 7 and November 7, HRW said it investigated attacks on or near five healthcare facilities in Gaza.<\/p>\n It found that Israeli forces struck the Indonesian Hospital multiple times between October 7 and 28, killing at least two civilians; the International Eye Hospital was struck repeatedly and completely destroyed on October 10 or 11;\u00a0 the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital was forced to close on November 1, days after air raids on or near the facility; a man and a child were injured after repeated attacks on the al-Quds Hospital; and Israeli forces struck well-marked ambulances on several occasions \u2013 at least a dozen people were killed or wounded in one incident outside al-Shifa Hospital on November 3.<\/p>\n \u201cThese ongoing attacks are not isolated. Israeli forces have also carried out scores of strikes damaging several other\u00a0hospitals\u00a0across Gaza,\u201d HRW said.<\/p>\n \u201cIntentionally directing attacks against \u2026 medical units and transport\u201d is prohibited as a war crime under the ICC\u2019s Rome Statute, HRW noted.<\/p>\n \u201cHospitals and other medical facilities are civilian objects that have special protections under international humanitarian law, or the laws of war. Hospitals only lose their protection from attack if they are being used to commit \u2018acts harmful to the enemy\u2019, and after a required warning,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Israel claims that Hamas fighters have set up command centres beneath hospitals like al-Shifa and the Indonesian Hospital \u2013 claims Hamas and the hospital staff deny.<\/p>\n \u201cThese claims are contested,\u201d HRW said. \u201cHuman Rights Watch has not been able to corroborate them, nor seen any information that would justify attacks on Gaza hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n HRW also criticised the \u201csweeping nature\u201d of Israel\u2019s evacuation orders, which did not take into account specific requirements for hospitals and patients. The group said there was no way to ensure safe compliance as \u201cthere is no reliably secure way to flee or safe place to go in Gaza\u201d, which raised concerns that \u201cthe purpose was not to protect civilians, but to terrify them into leaving\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Israeli government should immediately end unlawful attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and other civilian objects, as well as its total blockade of the Gaza Strip, which amounts to the war crime of collective punishment,\u201d HRW said.<\/p>\n It added that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups should also take feasible precautions to protect civilians under their control.<\/p>\nHealthcare system \u2018devastated\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Special protections\u2019<\/h2>\n