[News] Normalization of Israel’s war crimes in Gaza’s hospitals and dehumanization of Palestinian patients must end

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Normalization of Israel’s war crimes in Gaza’s hospitals and
dehumanization of Palestinian patients must end
By Anjuman Rahman <https://english.palinfo.com/?p=251539>

Sunday 22-December-2024 -
https://english.palinfo.com/opinion_articles/normalization-of-israels-war-crimes-in-gazas-hospitals-and-dehumanization-of-palestinian-patients-must-end/
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The deliberate targeting of hospitals in Gaza has been a sadistic trend
highlighting the normalization of war crimes in an international system
increasingly indifferent to Palestinian suffering.

Since the Israeli military’s strike on Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on 17 October
last year, resulting in the immediate loss of over 500 Palestinian patients
and medical professionals, the deliberate and systematic targeting of
Gaza’s healthcare system has only intensified, reflecting a broader pattern
of assaults aimed at crippling medical infrastructure and personnel.

Most recently, the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia town, the last
functioning intensive care unit (ICU) in northern Gaza, was bombarded,
leaving it in flames and out of service. Palestinian patients on
ventilators were evacuated moments before the fire caused by Israel
engulfed the ICU. According to the hospital’s Director, Dr Hussam Abu
Safiya, the attack involved sudden and intense gunfire, with Israeli forces
deliberately targeting the ICU.

“Sudden and crazy gunfire was fired at the hospital with all kinds of
weapons, and the occupation deliberately targeted the intensive care unit
by firing at it clearly,” Abu Safiya said, noting that the fires were
extinguished using only blankets and the limited drinking water left in the
hospital.

The ICU, the only one in northern Gaza, is now completely out of service.

Israel’s violence also stole the life of Dr Said Joudah, the last remaining
orthopedic surgeon in the region. Despite having sustained injuries
himself, Dr Joudah continued to travel between Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda
Hospitals to treat the wounded. Tragically, an Israeli drone strike fatally
targeted him. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, his death
brought the total number of healthcare workers martyred to 1,057 since the
onset of Israel’s war on Gaza. The ministry also reported a devastating
toll of 45,000 martyrs and over 106,000 injured since October of last year.

Before bombs are dropped on hospitals or homes, there’s a process of
dehumanization that lays the groundwork, painting Palestinians as
undeserving of dignity or protection. This process makes their suffering
easier to ignore, as they are reduced to mere numbers or dismissed as
“collateral damage” or “human shields”, stripping them of individuality.
Children become “minors”, murdered civilians are referred to as having
“died” and massacres are labelled as “chaotic scenes”. This deliberate
erosion of humanity, perpetuated by media framing and selective language,
anaesthetizes the global psyche, numbing it to Israel’s ongoing military
onslaught.

The media’s systematic misreporting reinforces the invisibility of
Palestinian suffering while amplifying Israeli narratives, legitimizing the
atrocities under the guise of “defense” or “military operations”.

In Gaza, where the highest number of pediatric amputees is recorded, the
scale of devastation has reached unimaginable proportions. Each new
tragedy, a child who loses their limbs, another who dies in an airstrike,
becomes part of an ever-expanding list of horrors. What was once
unthinkable is now seen as routine, as the international community’s
outrage wanes with each passing day.

Israel’s strike on Al-Ahli Arab Hospital shocked the world, and for a brief
moment, there was global condemnation and talk of accountability. Yet, less
than a year later, dozens of other hospitals, United Nations shelters and
universities have been bombed. Kamal Adwan Hospital, already strained by
water shortages after Israeli attacks on its water tanks, suffered
continued shelling and even attacks from exploding robots and the fire in
its ICU, which forced the evacuation of patients as the hospital struggled
to continue its work.

Dr Abu Safiya described the scene as “catastrophic and dangerous”. He
appealed for global intervention, noting that the healthcare system in Gaza
has been pleading for protection for months without any response. The
hospital faces daily attacks, including strikes on its generators, water
tanks and oxygen network, leaving it in a precarious state and unable to
serve the growing number of wounded arriving each day.

These attacks on medical facilities are a blatant violation of
international law, which protects hospitals and medical personnel under the
Geneva Conventions. Yet, these war crimes have gone unpunished. Israel
continues to justify its actions under the banner of “self-defense,” while
the global community, particularly Western powers, remains complicit
through inaction.

Israel’s actions are shielded by an exceptionalism narrative that grants
the state immunity from accountability. While it demands global recognition
of its “right to self-defense”, it simultaneously denies Palestinians the
right to a body, a home, a life. This duality extends to its
self-investigative mechanisms, which consistently exonerate the military
from allegations of wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, the international response to Palestinian resistance, whether
violent or non-violent, is delegitimized. Boycotts are branded offensive;
peaceful protests are vilified. Even pleas for medical evacuations for
injured children, such as Ahmed, the four-year-old amputee now receiving
care in Italy after being denied entry to the UK, are dismissed.

The relentless assault on Gaza’s healthcare system is not just a
Palestinian crisis, it is a global one. Targeting hospitals and civilians
constitutes a rupture of international law, a breakdown of the principles
that underpin any semblance of world order. As such violations have been
going unchallenged, they’ve set a precedent for impunity, eroding the very
foundation of human rights and justice.

The cost of dehumanization is not borne solely by its victims. While
Palestinians endure the unimaginable – burying their children, losing their
homes and surviving under perpetual siege – those who engage in or enable
dehumanization suffer the slow erosion of their own humanity.

As Gaza’s hospitals burn and its children clutch their dolls beneath the
rubble, the world’s silence grows louder. Culprits of genocide like
Benjamin Netanyahu receive standing ovations from Western parliaments,
while war crimes mount unchecked. Each passing day narrows the window for
accountability and with it, the chance to reclaim a moral compass
recognizing every human life as sacred.

The normalization of Israel’s attacks on hospitals in Gaza must end. The
global community cannot afford to look away.

*-Anjuman Rahman is an experienced journalist with a demonstrated history
of working in the information technology and humanitarian industry. Strong
media and communication professional graduated from University of the Arts
London. Her article appeared in MEMO.*
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