JOURNALISTS were among the 20 people killed on Monday after the double Israeli bombing of the Nasser Hospital, Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. The attack has been described by Sir Keir Starmer as “horrific” and “completely indefensible”.
The hospital was first hit at about 10 a.m. local time. A second blast followed about ten minutes later. Five journalists and four health workers were among those killed. The United Nations (UN) reported that 50 other people were injured, some of whom were in a critical condition.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Monday: “While people in Gaza are being starved, their already limited access to healthcare is being further crippled by repeated attacks. We cannot say it loudly enough: Stop attacks on healthcare. Ceasefire now.”
The Bishop of Bolton, Dr Matthew Porter, posted on social media on Wednesday: “Please pray for relatives of medics & journalists killed this week at Nasser Hospital, & that this tragedy would hasten not prolong the peace in Gaza.”
Christian Aid’s Head of Middle East Policy and Advocacy, William Bell, said: “Without any meaningful intervention by the international community — including the UK Government — the State of Israel has essentially been given a green light to remove Palestine from the map.”
He urged Israel’s allies to “step in and stop both the bombardment of Gaza and the continued illegal settlement of the West Bank”, lest they be “complicit in the attempted destruction and erasure of a nation”.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, and the World Health Organization have previously collectively called for aid in Gaza to be unhindered.
On Monday, the Roman Catholic aid network Caritas Internationalis described the plunging of Gaza into starvation as “deliberate”. The charity said that it was “not a tragic accident. It is the result of calculated choices. A population stripped of shelter, sustenance, and safety has been left to perish in full view of the world.”
Last Friday, the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) declared famine in areas of Gaza, including Gaza City.
Christian Aid’s programme manager for Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, Katie Roxburgh, said that the “people of Gaza already knew that they were living through a famine. Our colleagues describe the physical pain of hunger after months of surviving on a single small bowl of lentil soup each day.
“Israel’s blockade of Gaza is responsible for this suffering and it is unconscionable.”
The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Revd Professor Jerry Pillay, put out a statement on Thursday of last week urging a ceasefire and emphasising the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures to order Israel to “halt its Gaza offensive and ensure aid access”.