“We believe our government is obligated to do this, both under British law and International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and that it is the morally as well as legally right thing to do.”
A group of 30 UK-based doctors, nurses and medical professionals have written a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy demanding an immediate and total ban on arms sales to Israel.
“We demand that the UK government acts immediately to bring an end to the continued Israeli military escalation of catastrophe in Gaza,” the letter stated.
The UK, it added, “must ensure” that its policies result in a ceasefire “by withholding military support to Israel and ending arms trade with Israel.”
“We believe our government is obligated to do this, both under British law and International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and that it is the morally as well as legally right thing to do,” the group stressed.
All the letter’s signatories have volunteered in Gaza since October 7 and worked with various non-governmental organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO) in hospitals throughout Gaza.
‘Children Deliberately Targeted’
The medics said, “The deleterious effects of Israeli occupation on the Palestinian healthcare system are something many of us have seen before – but never to this extent.”
Palestinian Doctors, Hospitals and Health Care Workers are Primary Israeli Military Targets in Gaza
They said they “have seen the deliberate targeting of civilians on a mass scale, and a total lack of resources, due to the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system and deliberate restriction of aid.”
“All of us treated children who seemed to have been deliberately targeted by military violence,” the medics noted. “Bullet wounds to children’s heads and torsos and amputations of limbs and eyes of children were commonplace.”
Facilities serving Gaza’s children have been destroyed, they said, including the Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital and the Gaza European Hospital’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.
Much of the equipment for both facilities has been damaged during evacuation and both are currently inoperative.
Malnutrition and Infections
The medics pointed out that “everyone in Gaza is sick, injured, or both,” with marginal exceptions.
“This includes every national aid worker, every international volunteer, and every man, woman, and child,” they said.
The letter also raised the “widespread malnutrition” in patients and “our Palestinian healthcare colleagues,” adding that the medics had “photographic evidence of life-threatening malnutrition in our patients, from babies to the elderly, that we are willing or have already shared with you.”
‘Nine out of 10 Children’ Suffer Severe Food Poverty in Gaza – UNICEF
They said “Virtually every child under the age of five whom we encountered, both inside and outside of the hospital, had both a cough and watery diarrhoea. Jaundice and hepatitis A infection were widespread in the hospitals in which we worked, while the surgical complication rate was near 100%.”
Surgical incisions were almost certain to become infected, due to the hospitals’ impossible operating conditions – including a lack of supplies, water, and medications including antibiotics – overcrowding, and due to patients’ malnutrition, the letter stated.
“We were forced to use household supplies including vinegar for antiseptic purposes, or went without.”
‘Still-Births and Maternal Deaths’
Those of the medics who worked with pregnant women said they regularly saw still-births and maternal deaths that would “be easily preventable” in any functioning healthcare system.
“The rate of infection in C-section incisions was astonishing, and these were often delivered to women going without anaesthesia or painkillers. Their infants were born underweight, while mothers are likely to be unable to breastfeed due to malnutrition,” they wrote.
Pointing out that potable water was “unavailable” across Gaza, the medics said that Israel has not stopped bombarding civilians in their tents or displacing the malnourished and sick population of Gaza, approximately half of whom are children, “to areas with no running water or even toilets available.”
“This is a horrifying reality. It is virtually guaranteed to result in widespread death from viral and bacterial diarrheal diseases and pneumonias, particularly in children under the age of five.”
Poliovirus Discovery
According to the World Health Organization, since July 19, 2024, poliovirus has now been discovered in wastewater samples in Gaza.
Undetected Polio Cases Constitutes Real Challenge – Ministry of Health
“We worry that unknown thousands have already died from the lethal combination of malnutrition and disease, and that tens of thousands more will die in the coming months. Most of them will be young children. Many of those who survive contracting polio “will face lifelong consequences.”
“It is difficult for many of us to recount the scenes we witnessed in Gaza, not least of all in the knowledge that many of the injuries we treated may have resulted from the use of weapons systems and components supplied from Britain,” the medics wrote.
This, they emphasized, “includes the victims of the daily airstrikes conducted using F-16 and F-35 aircraft part-produced in the UK.”
“Being some of the few UK citizens and residents able to travel to Gaza since October, we write to you in certainty that if you had seen, heard, and experienced the things we have, there would be no question of placing an arms embargo on Israel.”
Staggering Death Toll
The letter was signed by, amongst others, Professor Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who worked at the Al-Ahli and Nasser Hospitals from October 9 to November 21 last year.
It was supported by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), an independent non-profit organization of lawyers, politicians and academics who support the rights of Palestinians and aim to protect their rights through the law.
Earlier this week, a group of American doctors who have worked in the besieged Gaza Strip demanded the US government implement an immediate arms embargo on Israel as they shared horrific experiences of the “unimaginable” situation in the enclave at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago.
‘Talk is Not Enough’ – US Doctors Slam Government for Arming Israel, Demand Embargo
Dr Tammy Abughnaim told reporters at a press briefing on Tuesday that “If the Biden administration and if Vice President Harris’ campaign is truly interested in a ceasefire, in saving civilian lives, they have to walk the walk. The talk is not enough.”
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 40,223 Palestinians have been killed, and 92,981 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
