UN body issues damning report on Israeli attacks on Gaza hospitals

A Palestinian injured in an Israeli strike on a building arrives at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

ZURICH, Switzerland — A UN Human Rights Office report on Tuesday condemned Israeli attacks on hospitals in Gaza, saying they had devastated the Palestinian enclave's health system and raised serious concerns about Israel's compliance with international law.

In the report documenting various attacks between Oct. 12, 2023, and June 30, 2024, the UN rights office said they had had severe consequences on Palestinians' access to medical attention.

The 23-page report concluded that since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, against Israel, the conduct of hostilities in Gaza had "destroyed" local healthcare.

"The destruction of the healthcare system in Gaza, and the extent of killing of patients, staff, and other civilians in these attacks, is a direct consequence of the disregard of international humanitarian and human rights law," it said.

The Israeli military did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the report.

Israel has in the past few days conducted operations against hospitals in Gaza that drew criticism from the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) among others.

The Israeli military has accused Hamas of using hospitals as command centres for military operations and said people Israel has detained at the facilities were suspected militants.

The UN report alluded to such arguments but said not enough information had been made public to substantiate them.

The report said deliberately directing attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are, provided they are not military objectives, would be war crimes.

It also warned that a systemic pattern of rights abuses against civilians could constitute crimes against humanity.

Israel has consistently rejected such suggestions.

The UN said that responding to its report, the Israeli government said its military had taken extensive measures to mitigate civilian harm and minimize disruption, including providing aid and evacuation routes, and setting up field hospitals.

Still, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said the report's findings pointed to "blatant disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law."

"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," Türk said in a statement.

Israel's campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, and turned the enclave into a wasteland.

The war was triggered by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken to Gaza as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

(Reporting by Dave Graham, Additional reporting by Maytaal Angel in Jerusalem, Editing by Angus MacSwan)