Dr. Ahmed Muhanna, Palestine
The People's Health Movement demands the immediate release of dr. Ahmed Muhanna, and a halt to the detention and murder of Palestinian Health Workers
1. Background
The Israeli targeting of the health system in Gaza since the beginning of the war has been well documented. WHO officials described the situation in the al-Shifa hospital, the once largest medical complex in Gaza, as a “complete horror scene”. The hospital director was arrested in the beginning of the war, the UN stated that the hospital is only providing basic trauma stabilization, with no blood for transfusions and hardly any staff to care for a constant flow of patients. The Al Awda hospital in Nuseirat is trying to cope with the massive influx of wounded internally displaced persons, having to improvise and take care of patients in tents outside the hospital. The situation of the health system in Northern Gaza is disastrous. Only 4 hospitals of 24 working in Northern Gaza are partially operational, and three of those are barely functioning. Raafat Al-Majdalawi, the general director of Al-Awda Health and Community Association, said that "since the beginning of the aggression on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation has been deliberately neutralizing and eliminating the entire health system in the Northern Gaza Strip. By bombing facilities, raiding hospitals, stopping medical and diesel supplies supplies they are destroying the health system. Because health institutions and hospitals are the most important signs of life in the Gaza region. In the North, the occupation's strategy is to remove all health institutions, especially hospitals." In this context the occupation forces destroyed the Kamal Adwan Hospital, raided the Indonesian Hospital, attacked the Hospital Healing and the Baptist Hospital, and besieged the Al Awda Hospital in Jabalia. The Al Awda Hospital was threatened time after time, with 4 people murdered. This was followed by bombing in the hospital yard, wounding 10 Al Awda Hospital employees, and afterwards destroying the solar energy system and diesel storage, and the water tanks.
“The practice of medicine is under attack,” Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, said. “As a practicing medical doctor, I cannot fathom what my Gazan colleagues are enduring. They are working while their colleagues and loved ones are under attack. Many have been killed while treating their patients,” Mofokeng said. Since October 7, 2023 at least 364 attacks on healthcare services have been officially recorded, resulting in at least 553 people killed and 729 injured. “We are in the darkest time for the right to health in our lifetimes,” Mofokeng said.
The complete collapse of the Gazan health system has a devastating impact on the right to health in the Gaza Strip. In its latest report on conditions in Gaza, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the WHO has reported cases of meningitis, chickenpox, jaundice and upper respiratory tract infections. The WHO says diarrhoea cases surged 66 percent among children. Meningitis, chickenpox, jaundice are also reported.
The latest:
19 December 2023 Israeli forces detain hundreds in al-Awda Hospital: AlJazeera
A statement issued by the Al Awda Health and Community Association
This afternoon, Monday, 12/18/2023, the Israeli occupation forces arrested (5) employees of Al Awda Hospital - Tal Al Zaatar - northern Gaza Strip, in addition to arresting one of the patients and one of the companions, noting that they are still detaining Dr. Ahmed Muhanna - Hospital Director.
2. Who is dr. Ahmed Muhanna?
Dr. Ahmed Muhanna became an internationally recognized voice denouncing the Israeli targeting of the health system in Gaza, eloquently describing the horrendous situation in the AWDA hospital Jabalia, Northern Gaza. On Friday October 13, AWDA received a message from the Israeli army to evacuate the hospital within 2 hours. Israel afterwards pushed back the deadline to 6 am Saturday morning (14 October). Dr. Muhanna and his team decided to stay in the hospital and with the patients. “I got a call from the Israeli army asking us to evacuate the hospital,” Dr. Muhanna said. In an interview he stated that "this is not possible. Some patients were evacuated, but other patients cannot be transferred due to their serious condition. The hospital staff is determined to stay and provide health care to patients". In his last audio, 1 day before his arrest on December 17, he said that "no one can move in the hospital because of the [Israeli] sniper. The situation in the hospital is terrible. We have 38 patients, some of them lacking medicine. We have no oxygen and only very little fuel for a small generator. We have food for 2 to 3 days tops. The situation is critical (cfr. Audio below).” Since the 5th of December the AWDA hospital has been surrounded by Israeli snipers and tanks circling the building. No one was able to enter or leave the building, one nurse was killed with a sniper shot. Dr. Muhanna and his team resisted the Israeli siege for more than 2 months providing essential health services to the patients.
3. What happened?
On Sunday December 17, Israeli soldiers raided the Al Awda hospital in Jabalia, Northern Gaza. During the raid they arrested 21 health workers including hospital director and anaesthesiologist dr. Ahmed Muhanna. After a 3 hour interrogation all but dr. Muhana was released. The Al Awda Health and Community Association (AWDA), member of the People's Health Movement, issued a statement denouncing the arrest and intimidation of its health personnel and demanding the immediate release of AWDA hospital director dr. Muhanna. Until now it is not clear where dr. Ahmed Muhanna is.
4. The campaign for the immediate release of dr. Ahmed Muhanna and the protection of the heath workers in Gaza
The People´s Health Movement stands by AWDA and demands the immediate release of dr. Ahmed Muhanna. Furthermore PHM demands a halt to the detention and murder of all Palestinian health workers. The deliberate targeting of the healthcare system by Israel is a blatant war crime.
Health workers are #NotATarget.
Call to action:
- We call upon health activists worldwide to denounce the arrest of dr. Ahmed Muhanna and call upon their national governments to pressure Israeli authorities to immediate release the AWDA hospital director. Here you can find a format you can use to send to your local politicians demanding justice.
- We call upon health activists worldwide to amplify the voices demanding a halt to attacks on health facilities and health personnel in Gaza.
- We urge all supporters of health workers in Gaza to sign this petition
Petition · Release abducted Palestinian healthcare workers · Change.org - We call upon health workers worldwide to organize a silent protest in front of their hospital or health center holding up a sign in solidarity with dr. Ahmed Muhanna and health workers in Gaza and send the photos to [email protected] and [email protected]
How to join:
→ Use this photo to share in social media:
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→ Listen, download and share the last audio from dr. Muhanna:
→ Link to the standard letter for people to use when writing to authorities. Here the letter:
FORMAT – CALL UPON LOCAL POLITICIANS TO INTERVENE
Dear Minister ….
I write to express the grave concerns of health workers throughout (name your region/ nation) at the arrests, detention and killing of health workers in Palestine by the Israeli forces. We cite three examples below, but there are many many more. The chaos and devastation makes it difficult at this stage to provide a comprehensive list, but what is plain to see beyond any doubt is that health care facilities, doctors, nurses, paramedics and other health care workers are the Israeli Defence Forces’ targets. Hospitals in Gaza have been serving as shelters as well as health care facilities, and despite this have been targets for attacks from Israeli forces.
Dr. Ahmed Muhanna , Director of the AWDA hospital in Northern Gaza has been jailed by Israel. In his last audio, 1 day before his arrest, he said that "no one can move in the hospital because of the [Israeli] sniper. The situation in the hospital is terrible. We have 38 patients, some of them lacking medicine. We have no oxygen and only very little fuel for a small generator. We have food for 2 to 3 days tops. The situation is critical." Since the 5th of December the AWDA hospital has been surrounded by Israeli snipers and tanks circling the building. No one was able to enter or leave the building, one nurse was killed with a sniper shot.”
Gaza City Shifa Hospital Director Muhammad Abu Salmiya was detained on November 23 and has not been heard of since. The WHO on the 18th December described the situation at al-Shifa Hospital as “a complete horror scene” and called the destruction of Kamal Adwan Hospital “appalling”. Al Jazeera has reported that there has been continuous shooting at the entrance to the al-Shifa Hospital, with at least 26 Palestinians killed in an earlier attack. At the same time, the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis has become the latest health facility targeted by Israeli forces. The building housing the maternity ward is believed to be housing thousands of evacuees. Overnight the building was hit by a missile strike with a young girl killed and others critically injured.
On 18th December 2023 Dr, Hani Haitham, head of the Al-Shifa Hospital emergency department was murdered along with his wife Dr. Sameera Ghifari and their 5 children. They were all killed by an Israeli airstrike.
I urge your government to protest these attacks to the Israeli ambassador and demand the attacks on health workers stop immediately. So far, your silence is taken as assent.
Your etc
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