Press release: demonstration on 30 May at Place de l’Albertine, Brussels.
Viva Salud, a Belgian NGO working to promote the right to health alongside partners in Palestine, is deeply concerned by the escalation of violence against the healthcare system in Gaza. The Israeli army’s attacks on medical staff, hospitals and ambulances constitute an attack on the entire healthcare system in Gaza.
Since Sunday 19 May, Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia – a partner of Viva Salud and the Belgian Development Cooperation – has been under siege for the second time since the start of the war. Israeli soldiers have forced staff and patients to leave the hospital. However, some members of staff have refused to comply, as several patients cannot be evacuated to safety due to a lack of ambulances and hospitals in the area. The acting director, Mohammed Salha, remained on site with 13 other AWDA staff members, alongside 11 patients who cannot be evacuated. Two relatives of underage patients also remained on site.
Al Awda Hospital had already been besieged in December. Five members of staff were arrested by the Israeli army at that time, including the director, the Dr Ahmed Muhanna. To date, it is not known where Dr Muhanna and his colleagues are being held or what condition they are in. Dr Adnan al-Bursh, who initially worked at Al Shifa Hospital before coming to assist the AWDA in Jabalia, was also captured by Israeli soldiers that day. We have recently learnt that he was killed in an Israeli prison.
Putting an end to war crimes and impunity
It is against this backdrop that Viva Salud, alongside numerous other organisations, will be organising a demonstration on Place de l’Albertine in Brussels on Thursday 30 May at 3.00 pm. We will hang a long clothesline there, to which medical equipment will be attached, symbolising the 493 healthcare workers in Gaza who have been murdered, as well as all the lives they can no longer save.
Furthermore, Viva Salud is calling on Prime Minister Alexander De Croo to impose a military embargo in Belgium and for the Belgian government, under his leadership, to put forward concrete sanctions against Israel within the EU.
If you have any questions, please contact us at victor@vivasalud.be or on +32 474 733 585.
« Time is running out for AWDA. The shortage of food, water, fuel, medical equipment and medicines for the 27 people there is becoming critical », says Dr Mohammed Salha, expressing his concern in a message sent to Viva Salud yesterday morning. It is also a disaster for the Palestinians in the region. AWDA is the only hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip capable of providing orthopaedic and maternity services. « Every day that the Belgian government chooses not to act is a day when women are forced to give birth in the street, when amputations have to be carried out because wounds become infected, and when countless innocent people die » he also said. One of the last remaining hospitals in northern Gaza is on the brink of collapse. «Viva Salud cannot stand by and do nothing any longer,” said Victor De Roeck, policy officer at Viva Salud, Healthcare professionals should never, ever be targeted. It is truly incomprehensible that these war crimes have been going on for months without any structural action being taken to put an end to them. Belgium and De Croo must take action now to ensure that the genocide in Gaza comes to an end!«
| AWDA is a Gazan health organisation with 2 hospitals and 6 community health centres throughout the Gaza Strip. As well as providing healthcare, its community health centres offer training and a meeting place for young people. Since 7 October, AWDA has been providing other services according to the needs of the population: distribution of food parcels, mattresses and blankets for displaced persons, and activity kits for traumatised children. AWDA has lost 7 members of staff since 7 October, and 6 are in prison without knowing what they are accused of or their sentences. The staff are continuing their work, however, as women continue to give birth and the wounded continue to pour in. |
Viva Salud Supports AWDA and calls for the immediate release of AWDA staff members and its director Dr Ahmed Muhanna. We call for the unconditional protection of all health workers⸱euses in Gaza. Health professionals⸱le⸱s are not a military target.
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