Israeli physicians have reminded us that the care and protection of Gaza’s children is a human obligation — will we heed their call?
Aug 27, 2024
The organisation Physicians for Human Rights Israel issued an urgent global appeal on 17 June on behalf of the children of Gaza, demanding “immediate and decisive action from the international community to prevent further loss of life and to address the dire and immediate needs of Gaza’s most vulnerable population”.
The care and protection of children is arguably the greatest responsibility of every human being. It cuts across cultural, political, religious, and every other divide. It applies in times of war, peace, and everything in between. Tragically, the world needs reminding of this as destruction in Gaza continues, inflicting an unimaginable toll on the children trapped there – a plight that is appalling even in comparison with other recent conflicts.
PHRI states that “the ongoing war and blockade in Gaza have created dire conditions for children, exacerbating an already severe situation, worsened by years of violence and deprivation”. Their appeal draws attention to widespread malnutrition and starvation, to the infectious illnesses that have now become rampant as a result of overcrowding and the destruction of sanitation and clean water supplies, and to the 1,000 children (at least) with limbs amputated as the result of injuries caused by war.
Alarmingly, the first case of confirmed polio has just been detected in an unvaccinated 10-month-old child in Gaza – a grave sign of a possible unprecedented health crisis for the hundreds of thousands of unvaccinated children.
The plight of Palestinian children
Between 13 June and 3 July, while volunteering at Al Aqsa hospital in central Gaza, Dr Othman saw countless malnourished infants and children who have no access to life-saving nutrition. Neonates with congenital heart defects, who could thrive with surgery, are being denied medical evacuation and do not survive. There are adolescents with multiple fractures requiring external fixation who will be debilitated for life given the lack of infrastructure to support their wound care and rehabilitation.
When a Russian missile struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv and other Ukrainian targets in early July, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong did not hesitate to label the attacks “abhorrent”, reminding us of Russia’s “illegal, immoral invasion”. However, we have heard none of these words in response to the attacks by Israel on every children’s hospital in Gaza, the finding of mass graves at hospitals with hundreds of bodies, including those of children, the stringent restrictions on evacuating children who are in dire need of medical care, and the multiple other wartime atrocities inflicted.
Children’s lives should not be collateral in the pursuit of partisan political goals, with different standards applied according to their ethnic origin or nationality. As one placard at a recent rally asked: Why is it so “complicated” when the children happen to be Palestinian?
No one can say we did not know. Within days of the beginning of the current war, its likely terrible consequences were already apparent, with senior UN experts expressing their outrage at Israeli crimes against humanity and warning of the risk of genocide. Ten months later, the end of the conflict remains elusive. There can be no justifying what many regard as crimes against humanity or the lack of an effective international response — not even the horrors committed by Hamas against Israeli adults and children on 7 October 2023.
Urgent action is needed
PHRI demands an immediate and sustained ceasefire, the protection of all medical facilities and personnel from attacks, the provision of immediate and adequate medical and humanitarian aid, and comprehensive physical, rehabilitative and mental health care for the children.
Appeals to Israel to stop the destruction and to allow the passage of aid have consistently fallen on deaf ears. Legal orders in January and again in March from the International Court of Justice, for Israel to enable the immediate provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance, have continually been ignored with impunity.
After 10 months of Israeli assault on an entire generation of Palestinian children, Australia still claims a “warm and close” relationship with Israel, at political, military and economic levels. Calls by our government for an end to the carnage, while necessary, are not enough; severe consequences for ongoing Israeli crimes are needed. The sanctions announced by Wong against several Israeli settlers in the West Bank are an overdue and small step in the right direction. However, to enact purposeful change that will help the children of Gaza, it is imperative that our government urgently takes more effective measures.
The courageous stance of medical doctors in Israel must be strongly supported and their demands implemented.
Republished from ABC Religion & Ethics, August 20, 2024
Fiona Stanley
Professor Fiona Stanley AC is a distinguished research professor at University of Western Australia.
Paul Komesaroff is Professor of Medicine at Monash University and Executive Director of the international NGO Global Reconciliation. His books include Experiments in Love and Death and Riding a Crocodile: A physician’s tale.
Dr Sue Wareham OAM has spoken and written widely on peace and disarmament issues, and is President of the Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia). She is a former Canberra GP. FB: @MAPWAustralia, T: @MAPW_Australia
Bushra Othman
Dr Bushra Othman is a general surgeon who recently volunteered on a medical mission in Gaza with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA).
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