FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 25th, 2024

CONTACT: Logan Bayroff, [email protected], 516-965-5159

MedGlobal is alarmed and appalled by the ongoing attacks on northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital, which on Sunday wounded the hospital’s director Dr. Husam Abu Safiya, MedGlobal’s lead physician in Gaza, along with a dozen other hospital personnel. 

Dr. Abu Safiya reported that he was hit by an Israeli quadcopter strike while in his hospital office, resulting in shrapnel injuries to his thigh and back that has caused serious bleeding and requires surgical care. Like so many of his patients and staff, he is now in need of a level of care that his hospital struggles to provide – due to the ongoing attacks and siege that has severely damaged or destroyed key hospital infrastructure, cut off access to medical supplies and other aid, and prevented additional medical aid personnel from reaching the hospital. 

In addition to the ongoing and sustained attacks on the hospital and its personnel, many hospital personnel remain illegally detained by Israeli forces, including MedGlobal’s nurse at Kamal Adwan and a total of six MedGlobal-affiliated staff. All of these actions are totally unacceptable and violate International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

“Dr. Abu Safiya and his colleagues at Kamal Adwan are true humanitarians working to provide urgently needed medical care in the most desperate and violent circumstances,” said Joseph Belliveau, Executive Director of MedGlobal. “We stand unequivocally with Dr. Abu Safiya, with our colleagues who have been wrongfully detained, and with all of the staff and patients desperately trying to survive the siege and attacks on Kamal Adwan and the surrounding area.  We are dismayed by the ongoing pattern of direct bombings of healthcare facilities and staff, who should never be targets in any conflict. These are egregious violations of IHL.”

MedGlobal was among several leading humanitarian organizations that recently released the “Gaza Scorecard,” which assessed Israel’s compliance with IHL and US requirements for aid delivery in Gaza. The groups concluded: “Israel not only failed to meet the U.S. criteria that would indicate support to the humanitarian response, but concurrently took actions that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in Northern Gaza.”

MedGlobal calls on the Israeli leadership and supporting governments, including the United States, to end the bombing of health facilities, release arbitrarily detained health workers, and allow and facilitate the provision of humanitarian aid. In short to uphold the most fundamental principle of IHL: the protection of civilians during war. #NotATarget. 

######### 
MedGlobal is a humanitarian aid nonprofit organization that provides emergency response and health programs to build resilience among vulnerable communities around the world.