The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor warned of escalating Israeli incitement against hospitals and medical centres in the Gaza Strip, saying it paves the way for targeting what remains of the health system and undermining Palestinians' chances of survival and rescue.
In a statement, the Monitor said the Israeli army published six inciting messages over the past two days against hospitals and medical centres in the Strip, as part of attempts to strip Palestinians of their chances of survival and pursue the crime of genocide.
It noted that the Israeli army claimed, in a video clip it recently published, to have killed a person it said planted an explosive device that was transferred from Kamal Adwan Hospital, explaining that an examination of the clip showed it lacked evidence, alongside spatial and temporal gaps that refute the claims regarding the hospital's connection to the alleged incident.
The Monitor affirmed that Israel has persistently, since the start of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, launched disinformation campaigns and unverified accusations to justify the systematic destruction of the health sector, noting that Israeli forces destroyed or put out of service half of the Strip's hospitals, killed more than 1,700 health workers, and arrested 330 others.
It warned that threats to target hospitals portend an expansion of the aggression and an escalation of killing and forced displacement operations in the Strip, calling on international and UN institutions operating inside Gaza's hospitals to conduct field verification of the Israeli claims and publicly refute them, and not wait for new attacks to occur before acting.
The Monitor demanded that the international community take urgent measures to protect what remains of the health system in Gaza, and obligate Israel to open the crossings, bring in medical supplies and implement the orders of the International Court of Justice. It also called on the International Criminal Court to investigate the targeting of hospitals, and on states to stop supplying weapons to Israel.
