Description
STORY: OHCHR / GAZA HOSPITALS REPORT
TRT: 05:17
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WHO FOOTAGE ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 31 DECEMBER 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
Shotlist
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Various shots, exteriors, United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
31 DECEMBER 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“A report by the UN Human Rights Office has found that Israel’s pattern of deadly attacks on and around Gaza’s hospitals pushed the healthcare system to the brink of total collapse, with catastrophic effect. The report graphically details the impact of Israel’s attacks -- from the destruction of buildings and facilities to the killing of patients, staff and other civilians -- raising serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law.”
WHO – 24 DECEMBER 2023, Al Shifa Medical Complex, north Gaza
3. Various shots, smartphone footage showing an overwhelmed hospital; health workers treating injured patients on beds and on the floor. Chaos and screaming
31 DECEMBER 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times. In essence, if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary, where Palestinians should have felt safe, in fact, became a death trap. Under certain circumstances, the deliberate destruction of healthcare facilities may amount to a form of collective punishment, which is also a war crime. The report also highlights that several of these acts, if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, further to a State or, in the case of non-State actor, organizational policy, may also amount to crimes against humanity.”
WHO - 26 JANUARY 2024, NASSER MEDICAL COMPLEX, KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA
5. Various shots, chaotic scenes inside the hospital; patients, companions and health workers
31 DECEMBER 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The Palestine health ministry has reported that tens of thousands have been injured during the conflict. Many of the injured reportedly died while waiting to be hospitalized or treated. In some of the attacks, the report finds the Israeli military likely used heavy weapons, including 2,000-pound bombs, in densely populated areas. Our Office also verified the precision targeting of people inside hospitals. At Al Awda Hospital in Jabalya, for example, a volunteer nurse was fatally shot in the chest while looking out of a window on 7 December 2023.”
WHO – 24 FEBRUARY 2024, AL-AMAL HOSPITAL, KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA
7. Various shots, damage to road, infrastructure and buildings
8. Various shots, damage to ambulances, hospital buildings and infrastructure, piles of waste
31 DECEMBER 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“And beyond the conflict itself, civilians were seriously impacted. Women, especially pregnant women, have suffered gravely. Our Office received reports that newborns had died because their mothers were unable to attend postnatal check-ups or reach medical facilities to give birth. Intentionally directing attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are treated, provided they are not military objectives, is a war crime. Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities is a war crime. And intentionally launching disproportionate attacks is also war crime.
WHO – 01 FEBRUARY 2024, AL-HELAL EMIRATI MATERNITY HOSPITAL, RAFAH, GAZA
10. Various shots, an overwhelmed paediatric intensive care unit, with numerous babies sharing incubators, beds and equipment
31 DECEMBER 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“There must independent, thorough and transparent investigations into all of these incidents, and full accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law which have taken place.”
WHO – 06 APRIL 2024, AL-SHIFA MEDICAL COMPLEX, NORTH GAZA
12. Various shots, the devastation of the hospital complex externally and internally
Storyline
“A report published today by the UN Human Rights Office found that Israel’s pattern of deadly attacks on and around hospitals in Gaza pushed the healthcare system to the brink of total collapse, with catastrophic effect,” UN Human Rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said today (Dec 31.)
The attacks, documented between 12 October 2023 and 30 June 2024, raise serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law, the report states. Medical personnel and hospitals are specifically protected under international humanitarian law, provided they do not commit, or are not used to commit, outside their humanitarian function, acts harmful to the enemy.
“This report graphically details the destruction of the healthcare system in Gaza, and the extent of killing of patients, staff, and other civilians in these attacks in blatant disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law,” Laurence said.
“The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times,” he said. “As if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap.”
During the reporting period there were at least 136 strikes on at least 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities claiming significant casualties among doctors, nurses, medics and other civilians and causing significant damage, if not complete destruction of civilian infrastructure.
In the exceptional circumstances when medical personnel, ambulances, and hospitals lose their special protection and fulfil the strict criteria to be considered military objectives, any attack must comply with the fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack. Failure to respect these principles constitutes a breach of international humanitarian law.
“Under certain circumstances, the deliberate destruction of healthcare facilities may amount to a form of collective punishment, which also constitutes a war crime,” said Laurence.
“The report also highlights that several of these acts, if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, further to a State or, in the case of non-State actor, organizational policy, may also amount to crimes against humanity.”
The increasingly limited healthcare system prevented many of those who had sustained trauma injuries from receiving timely and possibly life-saving treatment. By the end of April 2024, according to the Ministry of Health of the State of Palestine (Palestinian MOH), 77,704 Palestinians were injured. According to the Palestinian MOH, by the end of June 2024, more than 500 medical professionals had been killed in Gaza since 7 October.
“The Palestine health ministry has reported that tens of thousands have been injured during the conflict,” said Laurence. “Many of the injured reportedly died while waiting to be hospitalized or treated.”
In most instances, Israel alleges that the hospitals were being used by Palestinian armed groups, the report states. However, little information has so far been made available to substantiate these allegations, which have remained vague and broad, and in some cases appear contradicted by publicly available information. If these allegations were verified, this would raise serious concerns that Palestinian armed groups were using the presence of civilians to intentionally shield themselves from attack, which would amount to a war crime.
The impacts of the Israeli military’s operations in and around hospitals extend far beyond the physical structures, the report finds.
“And beyond the conflict itself, civilians were seriously impacted. Women, especially pregnant women, have suffered gravely,” Laurence said. “Our Office received reports that newborns had died because their mothers were unable to attend postnatal check-ups or reach medical facilities to give birth.”
The Israeli military’s first major operation against a hospital involved Al Shifa Medical Complex in November 2023. It raided the facility a second time in March 2024 leaving it in complete ruin by 1 April. Subsequent to the withdrawal by the Israeli military, three mass graves were reportedly found at the hospital, with at least 80 corpses retrieved, raising serious concerns that crimes under international law may have been committed. Some of these bodies were reportedly found with catheters and cannulas still attached, suggesting they had been patients.
“In some of the attacks, the report finds Israeli military likely used heavy weapons, including 2,000lbs bombs, in densely populated areas,” the spokesperson said. It appears, for example, that an Mk 83 or GBU-32 munition was used in the 10 January airstrike in front of Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, Middle Gaza. Reportedly, at least 12 people were killed, including a journalist and several IDPs, and 35 people were injured. The use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects in a densely populated area raises serious concerns of an indiscriminate attack.
The report finds that another feature of such attacks has been the apparent precision targeting of people inside hospitals, but that in most of these cases it was difficult to determine attribution. “Our Office also verified the precision targeting of people inside hospitals. At Al Awda Hospital in Jabalya, for example, a volunteer nurse was fatally shot in the chest while looking out of a window on 7 December 2023,” Laurence said.
“Intentionally directing attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are treated, provided they are not military objectives is a war crime. Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities is a war crime. And intentionally launching disproportionate attacks is also war crime,” the spokesperson said.
“There must be independent, thorough and transparent investigations of all of these incidents, and full accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law which have taken place,” Laurence added.
“It must also be a priority for Israel, as the occupying power, to ensure and facilitate access to adequate healthcare for the Palestinian population, and for future recovery and reconstruction efforts to prioritise the restoration of the medical capacity which has been destroyed over the last 14 months of intense conflict,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.