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Six Medical Aid Organisations Banned by Israel from Entering Gaza

October 18, 2024
News

18th October 2024: Six medical humanitarian groups, whose emergency medical missions in Gaza have collectively treated over 15,000 patients since October 2023 have been informed this week that their medical missions will hereafter be denied entry into Gaza. 

The notice was delivered to these organisations via text message from the World Health Organisation (WHO) following an order issued by the Israeli military via Israel’s ‘Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories’ (COGAT). The reasons behind Israel’s order remain unclear; no information has been provided on the reason or process behind the order to halt life-saving medical missions to Gaza.

This is a death sentence for thousands of patients in Gaza. These organisations have, collectively, sent hundreds of medical delegates to provide life-saving aid to sick and injured Palestinians in Gaza over the past twelve months. Their delegations have included specialists in trauma surgery, paediatric medicine and neurosurgery. While six affected organisations are known to the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), there may well be other organisations additionally affected by this order. The World Health Organisation has stated in response “WHO calls for urgent and sustained facilitation of entry for EMTs into Gaza and access for humanitarian aid across the Strip,”

For months since Israel’s seizure and closure of the Rafah border crossing, the military has limited the number of doctors and supplies entering Gaza. These organisations are now entirely deprived of the opportunity to serve the people of Gaza, who are experiencing life-threatening starvation, illness, and injuries due to Israel’s attacks and blockage of aid. The World Food Programme has reported that the northern third of Gaza has seen no food aid deliveries at all since October 2nd, the entirety of Gaza has been subject to Israeli restrictions on or refusals of humanitarian aid, leading to widespread malnutrition and rampant disease.


These organisations also coordinate the delivery of medical supplies and equipment into Gaza; operating field hospitals and clinics across the Strip, and providing support to Palestinian healthcare colleagues. It remains unclear whether this aid-delivery role must be suspended, or what opportunities, if any, the WHO has to challenge this order. There are currently heightened concerns regarding medical aid provisions, due to Israel’s reported ‘General’s plan’, which is designed to implement siege tactics to restrict aid reaching Palestinians in northern Gaza.

Dr Raz Segal, Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Endowed Professor in the Study of Modern Genocide, Stockton University, states: “The targeting of each and every hospital in Gaza; the killings of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers and now the banning from entry into Gaza of six medical aid organizations are all in line with Israel’s aims to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. In the language of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), Israel is ‘deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part’.”

Because Israel does not allow international press into Gaza, these doctors and nurses are some of the only international observers to acts which amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. COGAT’s order intends to deprive Gazans of their treatment, but, crucially, it intends to further isolate Gaza from the outer world and prevent witness testimony to atrocities, which has been crucial before international courts and institutions. 

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS