Israel’s attacks on health facilities, and its targeting of health and care workers now appear to be a routine tactic, which many experts describe as war crimes. 

Dozens of PSI affiliated members from the General Union of Health Services Workers have been killed in such strikes, including from the union’s Executive Board. Testimonies from members illustrate their unfathomable struggle to save lives while fearing for their own. 

As WHO Director Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus describes: “while people in Gaza are being starved, their already limited access to health care is being further crippled by repeated attacks.” 

The WHO has documented more than 7,000 incidents of attacks on health care, associated with the deaths of over 2,200 health workers and patients and 4,600 more injured.

Meanwhile, the International Federation of Journalists reports that over 218 journalists have now been killed in attacks, often as direct targets of Israeli strikes.

The Israeli governement is now using starvation of the Palestinian people as a tool of war. Yet despite the humanitarian disaster on the ground, the Israeli army is calling up 600,000 reservists for a new offensive on Gaza. 

The attacks by Hamas against Israeli civilians on 7th October 2023, condemned by unions across the world, cannot be used to justify the continued slaughter of civilians in Gaza nearly two years on.  

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestine is calling on trade unions, and civil society organisations “to press for boycotts, divestments, sanctions, justice for Palestine and accountability at international and domestic levels.”  

Many unions around the world are taking action against the ongoing Israeli aggression. French workers from CGT blocked the loading of arms onto ships bound for Israel. Unions in Australia took part in historic marches which helped push the Government to commit to recognizing Palestine as a state. PSI launched a solidarity fund to provide medium term aid relief and rebuild union infrastructure when conditions allow.  

We will not allow attacks on essential workers and civilians to continue to go unanswered. As Dr Tedros emphasizes: “We cannot say it loudly enough: STOP attacks on health care. Ceasefire now!”