On Nov. 5, one hundred Israeli doctors from “Doctors for the Right of Israeli Soldiers” issued a statement saying that Gaza’s large Al-Shifa medical complex, and other hospitals in Gaza, are legitimate targets for destruction, on grounds that they harbor Hamas terrorists, reported Al Mayadeen. Just two days earlier, on Nov. 3, Israeli forces had bombed Al-Shifa in Gaza City, targeting ambulances that were to carry patients for treatment in Egypt, and killing 15 people. Yesterday, along with most other Gaza hospitals, Al-Shifa was bombed again, killing dozens, mostly women and children, rendering it inoperative.
The Israeli news site HaMedash originally published the doctors’ statement, but since then its shocking content has been widely covered, especially in the Arab world. As quoted by Al Mayadeen TV network based in Beirut, the statement charges that Hamas “built terrorist headquarters inside the hospitals with the understanding that no harm would come to them. That murderous terrorist organization spares no means and brutally commits murder and unprecedented atrocities against people, women and children—therefore any place where its people hide and/or is used for terrorist activity is a legitimate target for destruction—even if it houses patients.”
The doctors’ statement says that Gaza’s residents have no one to blame but themselves for the Israeli destruction of hospitals now taking place, because they allowed “terrorist nests” to be set up inside medical facilities, “taking advantage of Western morality.” Now “there is an obligation to destroy the wasps’ nests and the hospitals that are used to shelter them…. Attacking terrorism is the right and duty of the Israeli Army.” The doctors in Gaza are “fully responsible, if God forbid, something happens to the hospitals,” the doctors’ statement warned.
On Nov. 6, a group of Gaza-based Palestinian physicians issued a statement responding to the Israeli doctors, reported Common Dreams. Led by Dr. Marwan Shafiq Al-Ham, director of the Muhammad Yusuf Al-Najjar Hospital, they stated: “We as doctors are ambassadors of peace. We save lives. Israeli doctors who signed a letter promoting bombing of hospitals with patients inside have committed a betrayal to their noble profession and bear responsibility. We have sworn to protect human lives. Therefore, it is not permissible to betray the oath and the profession.
