By now the Israeli government should have produced overwhelming evidence of the Hamas tunnels it claims are located under the hospitals it has targeted, resulting in thousands of innocent civilians including children and doctors being killed in Palestine.
But none has been forthcoming thus far, yet hospitals housing the most vulnerable have been the daily targets of Israeli bombardments, leading to calls for its leaders to be held accountable for genocide.
It’s becoming impossible to justify the killing of civilians when the Israeli side has produced no evidence of the tunnels it claims Hamas was using to keep the hostages it abducted when it launched a surprise attack on October 7.
Those responsible for that attack which is said to have claimed the lives of about 1 200 civilians in Israel should equally be held accountable.
The hostages should also be immediately freed as their continued capture prolongs the devastating war. But questions must be asked of Israel’s claims of the tunnels it has yet to prove exist.
The latest to fall victim to the strikes at Al Awda Hospital while trying to save lives were Dr Mahmoud Abu Nujaila and Dr Ahmad Al Sahar of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and their colleague Dr Ziad Al-Tatari on Tuesday.
Other medical staff were severely injured.
The Israeli authorities cannot claim they were not aware of who they were targeting when MSF regularly shares information including GPS co-ordinates with the warring parties about Al Awda as a functioning hospital and the presence of its staff.
The hospital houses more than 200 patients who are unable to receive the level of care they need. They urgently need to be safely evacuated to the few hospitals that are still functioning in Gaza.
Not that those behind this latest strike needed any reminder, but the MSF’s words are worth repeating: “Attacks on medical facilities are a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law, and this has become systematic in the past weeks.
We reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, now more than ever, the lifting of the siege, and the protection of medical facilities and medical staff.”
This editorial would not be complete if we did not salute the aid workers who have put their lives on the line. History will record their names as heroes of this war.
Cape Times