As health workers, we have sworn to pursue the defense of life, the protection of human physical and mental health, and the relief of suffering, to abide by the ethical principles of human solidarity and to fight any act that may damage the decorum and the dignity of our profession. For this reason, we feel obliged to denounce the violation of international law and humanitarian law that Israel is committing with total impunity in Gaza.

According to what was published on the BBC and CNN websites, between 7 October and 20 December 2023, the Israeli army dropped 29,000 bombs on Gaza, an unprecedented war arsenal that can only be compared with the Vietnam War. Over 20,000 people, of which 70% were women and children, were killed, and over 52,600 injured. These numbers are continually growing as the war continues.

Health infrastructures, places of treatment, and refuge, normally protected by international laws, have become primary targets of this war. Of the 36 hospitals that existed in Gaza before the war, only 11 have remained partially functional. Over 300 health workers have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza. According to “Medical Aid For Palestine”, this number is greater than the sum of all health workers killed in armed conflicts from 2016 to today worldwide.

The damage to healthcare facilities has caused the deaths of newborns in incubators, and patients undergoing dialysis or requiring respiratory support. According to a report by Al Jazeera, 110 members of healthcare personnel were arrested, tortured, and/or taken to unknown areas by the Israeli army and whose traces were lost. The remaining health professionals on the job operate in miserable conditions, are forced to amputate adults and children without anesthesia or sterilized surgical instruments and deal with devastating epidemics. Indeed, due to the deprivation of water, food, medicines, and medical equipment, infectious diseases are spreading in overcrowded shelters, with 360,000 cases reported including respiratory infections, diarrhea, hepatitis, skin diseases, and meningitis according to the latest report from the United Nations.

The healthcare network for Gaza, a national network of healthcare workers driven by the same moral necessity, is mobilizing to carry out peaceful awareness and denunciation actions to:

  • Express solidarity with the Palestinian population and fellow health professionals. – Call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
  • Call for the immediate lifting of the siege of Gaza.
  • Request emergency humanitarian aid through the creation of humanitarian corridors that allow the passage of patients, health workers, medicines, medical equipment, and food.
  • Demand the release of health workers and all civilians taken prisoner.
  • sk that the bodies of the deceased be returned to their families so that they can bury them with dignity and mourning.
  • Call for sanctions against the state of Israel for violating international humanitarian law regarding the protection of health facilities, health workers, and civilians.

We salute the professionalism and dedication [of the Palestinian health workers.]

We invite all healthcare workers to join this action and show solidarity with our colleagues in Gaza.

We invite everyone to join the health workers at the rally
Saturday, January 13 at 3:30 pm in Piazza Santissima Annunziata in Florence

N.B: Participation is on an individual basis