An expert commission appointed by the UN Human Rights Council has accused Israel of deliberately destroying the health sector in Gaza amid its war on the Palestinian extremist organisation, Hamas.
In a report published on Thursday, the independent human rights experts accused Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity amid its campaign in the embattled coastal area.
“The Commission finds that Israel has implemented a concerted policy to destroy the healthcare system of Gaza.
“Israeli security forces have deliberately killed, wounded, arrested, detained, mistreated and tortured medical personnel and targeted medical vehicles, constituting the war crimes of wilful killing and mistreatment and the crime against humanity of extermination,” the report indicated.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry was convened by the UN to look into the situation in the occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel.
In its latest report, the panel also assessed the treatment of the hostages abducted by Palestinian militants to Gaza on October 7 last year, as well as the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jail.
The experts accuse both Israel as well as armed Palestinian groups of subjecting prisoners to torture and sexual violence.
Israel arrested and tortured medical workers, deliberately shelled ambulances, and caused immense suffering with attacks primarily on children’s hospitals and neonatal units, the report said.
The commission holds a specific Israeli military unit responsible for killing a five-year-old girl named Hind Rajab in Gaza City, along with six family members and two rescue workers who were trying to save her.
When asked about such attacks, the Israeli army always argues that Hamas has been using hospitals as command centres and that there are also terrorists among the paramedics.
The expert commission called for the immediate release of hostages abducted by Islamist extremists from Israel and an end to attacks on health workers in the Gaza Strip.
To address the root causes of the conflict, Israel must end the occupation of Palestinian territories, withdraw settlers and pay reparations to victims, the experts said.
The United Nations considers not only the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, but also the Gaza Strip to be occupied by Israel, among other reasons because Israel continues to control all access to those territories.
Israel maintains that the occupation of the Gaza Strip ended with the withdrawal of soldiers and settlers in 2005.
