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Bay Area Health Care Workers Protest Israel's Attacks on Gaza Hospitals [1]
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Date: 2025-01
Hospitals still in operation are also in dire need of medical supplies, food and other essentials.
“We’re now 450 days plus into this genocide and the destruction of health care infrastructure in Gaza with no end in sight,” said Jess Ghannam, medical staff member and president of Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine at UCSF. “The complicity of the U.S. government and the health care system here with turning a blind eye to the devastation to the health care infrastructure in Gaza needs to be called out.”
In December, Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza, forcing patients to temporarily relocate to other, less equipped medical centers. Kamal Adwan had been the last remaining hospital in North Gaza. The hospital’s director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, was also arrested.
Abu Safiya is a pediatric intensive care doctor and a lead physician with MedGlobal, an international nonprofit that provides health care assistance and humanitarian aid.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, Abu Safiya was arrested and is being questioned about potential involvement with terrorist groups, claims that remain unsubstantiated. His current whereabouts are still unknown, and several international groups including Physicians for Human Rights and the World Health Organization have called for his release.
Dr. Leigh Kimberg, a primary care physician at San Francisco General Hospital and a professor of medicine at UCSF, said Abu Safiya worked tirelessly to take care of his patients even while under threat. He was previously detained, questioned and released by Israeli forces, and still continued to serve at the hospital even while injured and mourning his son, who was killed in front of him in an Israeli strike.
“To accuse Palestinian health care workers who are themselves starving because they have access to no food and are providing the care that they were trained to give while under assault of anything other than being dedicated to their sacred oath to serve humanity is deeply offensive,” Kimberg said.
The IDF justified its attack on the hospital by saying that Hamas militants were hiding at the site. The U.N. human rights chief has called that justification vague, broad and unsubstantiated.
Kimberg added that Israeli forces have attacked both health care facilities and health care workers numerous times in the past and have previously attempted to justify such actions with similar unsubstantiated claims.
“Over 1,000 of our Palestinian health care colleagues have been murdered by Israeli forces. There are testimonies of health care workers being specifically targeted by Israeli forces,” Leigh said. “More than 450 of our Palestinian colleagues have been abducted from health care institutions and imprisoned.”
A crowd gathers where health care workers rally in front of San Francisco General Hospital, after calling out sick, to protest against the war in Gaza, on Jan. 6, 2025.In San Francisco, many health care workers have already been vocal about their support for the Palestinian people.
“We’re here to come together in support of our colleagues in Gaza who continue to experience targeted attacks from Israeli forces as they try to attend to a population of people that have been genocided,” said Bridget Rochios, a midwife at San Francisco General Hospital and a nurse practitioner at UCSF. “When we get into health care, it’s because we really firmly believe in health equity and human rights for everyone, and that includes people in Gaza.”
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[1] Url:
https://www.kqed.org/news/12020400/bay-area-health-care-workers-protest-alleged-targeting-medical-facilities-gaza
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