Last week I spent a day fasting, joining medical colleagues and other healthcare workers in a rolling hunger strike to protest what is happening in Gaza. Why are we doing this?

We are appalled by the collective starvation of children and civilians, the destruction of the healthcare system and the deaths of more than 1400 healthcare workers. At least 400 have been arrested, and more than 300 are still imprisoned. Those released report torture – indeed, one surgeon was told they would destroy his hands so he could never work again.

Our colleagues who have volunteered in Gaza tell us of the horrendous suffering and needless deaths they have seen. Of children having amputations without anaesthetic. Of illness and deaths caused by lack of basic medical equipment and supplies. This comes against a background of starvation, illness and deaths caused by the deliberate destruction of water and energy infrastructure.

These colleagues return very traumatised by what they have seen.

In Australia, there is a deafening silence from institutions who should be speaking out. This week the British Medical Association cut ties with the Israeli Medical Association. But here medical colleges and other healthcare institutions carefully hedge their comments. The Royal Australian College of GPs states: “We remain politically neutral."

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation is one of the exceptions, condemning the deliberate targeting of healthcare workers and facilities, and the ongoing restrictions on food, water, fuel, and medical supplies. They note this collective punishment risks constituting war crimes.

The universities are also largely silent and silencing. Students have been expelled from ANU and Melbourne University (the ANU student readmitted on appeal). Definitions of what constitutes antisemitism and rules about protests have been rewritten. Two weeks ago Melbourne University medical students wishing to hold a stall about “War as a global health issue” were refused, due to concerns the topic is too “complex” and “emotionally charged”.

The University of Melbourne Student Union and the National Tertiary Education Union have called the new rules “ an authoritarian approach” that erroneously conflates staff and student discomfort with lack of safety. The Human Rights Law Centre, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have  urged the university to rescind them.

Protesting the actions of the Israeli Government is clearly not antisemitic. Weaponising definitions does not change the genocide unfolding in Gaza. This is a public health emergency.

There was outrage when Russia killed Ukrainian civilians and destroyed energy and water infrastructure. Similarly, when Soroka Hospital in Israel was damaged by an Iranian missile there was an outcry. But somehow bombing 36 out of 38 hospitals in Gaza barely warrants a mention.

There are four privatised and militarised aid sites in southern and central Gaza. How can four sites feed a population of more than two million people? And what of Gazans living in the north?

In addition, these sites are perilous. Last week, it was reported that 410 people have been killed at aid sites in June alone. IDF officers and soldiers told Haaretz they were “ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present".

In a few years everyone will wring their hands and say what an awful time this was and how tragic so many died… just as happened after World War II.

We are striking to draw attention to the collective cruelty and health catastrophe unfolding in front of us. The actions of the Israeli Government breach multiple human rights conventions, including the UN convention on the rights of the child.

We urge our health organisations, including medical colleges and health unions, to publicly condemn Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war and targeting of Palestinian healthcare, and apply a boycott against institutions affiliated with the Israeli military.

We urge the Australian Government to apply wider diplomatic and economic sanctions, including a two-way arms and trade embargo (excluding medical supplies). We need a lasting ceasefire, with the entry of food, water and aid into Gaza. We call for the release of hostages and unlawfully imprisoned Palestinians, including more than 300 medics.

To quote Dr Muntaser Mahmud, “We have spent the past 20 months trying to convince those in power to act, with emails, letters, demonstrations and meetings – to no avail. This hunger strike aims to finally break the silence and inaction, and by extension, our complicity.”

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.