UN Says Israel Providing Inadequate Evidence for Claims on Gaza Hospital Attacks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A UN Human Rights Office report criticized Israel for insufficient information to support claims that Palestinian resistance groups are using Gaza hospitals for military purposes, amid ongoing attacks on health facilities protected by international law.
The UN report states that Israel’s allegations of Gaza hospitals being misused by Palestinian factions remain “vague” and have not been substantiated by publicly available evidence.
The study details significant damage to Gaza’s healthcare system between October 12, 2023, and June 30, 2024. During this period, at least 136 attacks targeted 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities, resulting in the deaths of doctors, nurses, medics, and civilians.
The report raises concerns that the deliberate destruction of healthcare infrastructure could constitute collective punishment, potentially amounting to a war crime.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, emphasized, “The one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap. The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times.”
Former Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas commented that even if Israel provided evidence showing Hamas’ use of medical facilities for military purposes, it would not justify attacking hospitals. "There is a discrepancy between the big headlines… and the failure to come up with the evidence to support this,” Pinkas told Al Jazeera.
He added that despite Israeli military claims of arresting more than 250 Hamas fighters at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, attacking the hospital remains unjustifiable.
Meanwhile, doctors and activists around the world have called for the release of the Kamal Adwan Hospital’s director, who was arrested during a recent raid.
Concerns are rising on social media that the director, Abu Safia, may face a fate similar to Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, the director of al-Shifa Hospital, who died under suspicious circumstances after being arrested by Israel in December. Allegations emerged that al-Bursh, one of Gaza’s top doctors, had been tortured before his death at infamous Israeli Ofer Prison.
Maha Hussaini, a Palestinian activist, questioned whether the international community was waiting for another tragedy. “After Dr. Adnan al-Bursh died in Israeli prisons, amid reports suggesting he may have been raped to death, and with every medical professional subjected to torture for no apparent reason other than their commitment to duty in Gaza’s hospitals, is the world waiting for another story about the death of Dr. Adnan Abu Safiya in Israeli prisons?”
Israel's attacks on Gaza's hospitals have resulted in significant destruction of medical facilities, killing doctors, nurses, and civilians. Between October 2023 and June 2024, at least 136 attacks targeted 27 hospitals and 12 medical centers.
