ICJP x Middle East Eye - Under Fire: Israel's War on Medics

On the 24th April 2025, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) co-hosted a film screening and panel discussion with Middle East Eye in Westminster. The film was ‘Under Fire: Israel’s War on Medics’ – a ground-breaking documentary film, produced by Middle East Eye and presented by Hind Hassan, who reports on the work of paramedics on the frontline, capturing their harrowing experiences as they risk their lives to save others. The film sheds light on Israel’s targeting of healthcare infrastructure and rescue teams in both Gaza and Lebanon, despite their protection under international law. With powerful footage, expert insight, first-hand testimony and investigative reporting, the film-makers reveal the devastating toll of the attacks on emergency services.

Ahead of the screening were two keynote speeches, by Professor Avi Shlaim, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford, and Editor-in-Chief of Middle East Eye, David Hearst.

As well as Avi Shlaim the panel will feature Hind Hassan, who presented the documentary, as well as Dr. Victoria Rose and Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah, who both volunteered in hospitals in Gaza during the genocide, Professor Avi Shlaim, and UK Director of Human Rights Watch Yasmine Ahmed. The panel was chaired by Middle East Eye’s Mohamed Hassan.

The event was hosted by Dania Abul Haj, Senior Legal Officer at the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians. In her introduction she spoke of her experience of meeting Gazans who were evacuated for medical treatment—genocide survivors. Amongst those, she met with medical professionals. In her concluding remarks, she said:

“Today, as we watch this documentary, we pay tribute to the immense resilience and the remarkable steadfastness of humanitarian and medical workers in Gaza, and all other Palestinians.”

Panel

Professor Avi Shlaim (keynote speaker), Israeli-British Historian and Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Oxford University.
David Hearst (keynote speaker), editor-in-chief of Middle East Eye.
Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Palestinian plastic and reconstructive war surgeon and Rector of the University of Glasgow, who worked in hospitals in Gaza and Lebanon during Israel’s bombardment of healthcare infrastructure.
Hind Hassan, a multi-Emmy Award winning international correspondent and documentary filmmaker, who features in the film.
Yasmine Ahmed, UK Director of Human Rights Watch.
Dr Victoria Rose, an NHS Plastic Surgeon who has supported trauma care services in Gaza since 2009, Chair of RCSE Special Advisory Committee for Plastic Surgery, and volunteer at European Gaza Hospital in March 2024 and Nasser Hospital in August 2024.