20-11-2023 De Nederlandse Vereniging voor Medische Polemologie en International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War roepen op tot een onmiddellijk staakt-het-vuren in de oorlog tussen Israël en de Palestijnen. En vragen alle landen geen geld en wapens te leveren aan Israël, Hamas en andere partijen die militair geweld gebruiken in deze oorlog. Lees hier hun verklaring.
IPPNW calls for immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Israel-Palestine war
Our goal is the health, peace and security of all people, whether they live amid the terror and destruction of war in Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nagorno-Karabakh or anywhere else. We know it is civilians, especially women and children who suffer most in war. Our profession has its roots deep in our ethical obligation to provide care to all on the basis of their shared humanity and their need.
We express our deep anguish at the ongoing violence which has so far resulted in the reported deaths of over 1,200 Israelis, and over 11,000 Palestinians in Gaza, almost 70% of them women and children, 40% of them children less than 15 years. In Gaza a child dies every 10 minutes.
Over 5,400 Israelis and 27,500 Palestinians are reported injured. More than 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced, lacking basic needs of shelter, food, water and sanitation, fuel, electricity and communication. In Gaza no one and nowhere is safe. According to the United Nations, 279 schools and 135 health facilities, where many people are sheltering, have been hit and damaged. The ongoing treatment of 9,000 cancer patients and of 350,000 patients with chronic disease, including diabetes and heart disease, is being severely disrupted. The care of the 180 women in Gaza who give birth every day has become near impossible.
More than 100 UN humanitarian workers have been killed, more than in any other conflict.
WHO Director-General Dr Ghebreyesus testified to the United Nations Security Council on 10 November that since 7 October, WHO has verified more than 250 attacks on health care in Gaza and the West Bank, in addition to 25 attacks on health care in Israel - hospitals, clinics, patients, ambulances. Last week, WHO documented 5 attacks on 5 hospitals in one day. He stated that in the previous 48 hours alone, four hospitals with 430 beds have been put out of action. Since 21 October, instead of the 10,000 trucks that would normally bring essential supplies into Gaza, just 650 have entered.
Dr Ghebreyesus described:
"Hospital corridors crammed with the injured, the sick, the dying;
Morgues overflowing;
Surgery without anesthesia;
Tens of thousands of displaced people sheltering at hospitals;
Families crammed into overcrowded schools, desperate for food and water."
The targeting of hospitals, ambulances and health professionals undertaking their vital work is a heinous crime and a violation of the Geneva Conventions, as is the use of civilians as human shields. Depriving health services of the electricity, water, fuel and other supplies that they need to work is inhumane and a war crime. The UN has been clear that attacks on these facilities with the excuse that they may be in close proximity to combatants is also a violation of international law.
The long-term physical, mental and social health consequences of this war will be severe and long-lasting. They can be expected to include the spread of respiratory diseases, including tuberculosis; diarrhea and skin diseases caused by unhygienic conditions; cardiovascular, renal and urinary tract diseases associated with inadequate water supplies; malnutrition harming children's growth and development, and increasing people's vulnerability to infectious and chronic diseases. They will also include severe mental health and developmental disorders from bereavement, ongoing trauma and insecurity, fear, loss and deprivation and an uncertain future.
They come on top of and exacerbate the civilian suffering inflicted on Israelis and Palestinians by terrorist attacks, multiple previous wars, dispossession, and the ongoing deprivation, hardship and human rights violations of the Israeli occupation of Gaza.
We express our support and deep gratitude and concern for our health professional colleagues in Gaza, who are physically and mentally exhausted, putting themselves at great risk while doing their best in unimaginable and intolerable conditions.
We are deeply disturbed by the irresponsible recent threat of nuclear weapons use made by the Heritage Minister of Israel. This war has already spread to involve Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, with nuclear-capable US forces deployed to the region, in addition to Israeli nuclear weapons. The risks of this war escalating uncontrollably to use of nuclear weapons is a real and present danger.
We strongly support the consistent calls of the United Nations General Assembly and Secretary-General and humanitarian organizations for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, for the immediate and unconditional release of all civilians held hostage by Hamas, many of whom need urgent medical attention, and for the protection of civilians and the infrastructure they rely on.
We strongly support Dr. Ghebreyesus' call for:
- unfettered access to deliver humanitarian aid to the civilians of Gaza, who are not responsible for this violence, but are suffering its horrifying and unacceptable consequences;
- Israel to restore supplies of electricity, water and especially fuel;
- both sides to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law.
We further call on:
- all nations who support, fund and arm parties to this war to stop supplying weapons to these parties and use their influence to bring about an urgent humanitarian ceasefire and an end to the conflict; urge Israel to fulfill its responsibilities as occupying power, and Hamas to end use of civilians as human shields and the taking of hostages.
- all nuclear-armed states to commit to non-use of nuclear weapons in this war and negotiate a verifiable and time-bound agreement to eliminate their nuclear arsenals, that can bring security to no-one and jeopardize all humanity.