The case of the Health Work Committees (HWC), West Bank, Palestine

 Founded in the 80s during the first Intifada, the Health Work Committees have played a crucial role providing health services to the Palestinians living in the West Bank, Palestine. Hundreds of thousands health services are provided every year, lots of them related with the brutal Israeli occupation. The last couple of years the Israeli repression against the Health Work Committees intensified. The headquarters of HWC, one of the most important health organizations in Palestine, were raided several times.

 Dr. Thaer Altallouli, Indonesian Hospital, Gaza

“I am a doctor at the Indonesian Hospital. On November 3, 2023, I was on a mission to transfer the injured from the hospital to the Rafah crossing near Egypt. We prepared 5 ambulances. Each ambulance was carrying 5 injured individuals due to the shortage of ambulance vehicles. We left around 1 pm from the front of the hospital, heading to the Al-Shifa Hospital. There we coordinated with the Red Cross to allow us to pass through Rashid Street by the sea.

Dr. Essam Fasl Aldawor, Indonesian Hospital, Gaza 

Dr. Essam Fasl Aldawor worked in the Intensive Care Unit at the Indonesian Hospital in the Northern part of Gaza City before it was destroyed and taken out of service by the Israeli occupation forces. “On Sunday, October 15, 2023, I was on duty at the Indonesian Hospital doing a 24-hour emergency shift. That day, at around 7pm the apartment of my parents was struck by two Israeli missiles. I don´t know what type of missiles were used, but they wiped out the entire apartment, it destroyed the staircase and the neighbor’s house.

Dr. Alaa Muti' Al-Ghafir, Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza

My name is Dr. Alaa Muti' Al-Ghafir. I was detained for a period of 56 days by the Israeli occupation forces from November 19, 2023, to January 14, 2024. I worked at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza as the head of consultants in the radiology department.

During that time, I was at the hospital as a displaced person and a doctor. On November 18, 2023, I, along with my family, evacuated our home in Al-Sahaba Complex, Burj Al-Quds, in the Rimal neighborhood after the Israeli airstrikes bombed and destroyed it. 

The PHM echoes medical organizations in Palestine calling for an immediate ceasefire to allow access to humanitarian aid and medical supplies to relieve the victims. 

The Palestinian Medical Relif Society -PMRS- is one of the founding organizations of PHM in the Middle East and North Africa Region -MENA- and a long time PHM Global ally.

Román Vega, global coordinator of the Movement for Peoples' Health -MSP- participates in the webinar: The war in Israel and world peace, organized by the Brazilian Center for Health Studies (Cebes).

Webinar: A Guerra em Israel e a Paz Mundial 

Román Vega, coordenador global do Movimento pela Saúde dos Povos -MSP- participa do webinar: A guerra em Israel e a paz mundial, Organizado por o Centro Brasileiro de Estudos de Saúde (Cebes)

Latest in Gaza

The Palestinian Medical Relief Society PMRS Gaza Update 7-26th Oct 2023 

As the days go by, the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip deepens, the armed conflict has intensified, civilians and medical personnel remain under threat, fatalities and injuries grow by the minute, caravans of forcibly displaced people seeking safety have also come under attack, water, food, shelter and medical supplies are in short supply.

Dr. Helena Paro, Brazil

1. Who is Helena Paro?