Israel's Weaponization Of Aid In Gaza Is Leading To Preventable Suffering, Doctors Say

Medical workers are forced to make life-or-death decisions for patients whose injuries would be treatable if they had the supplies, according to a new report.

Warning: This story contains graphic and distressing content.

Israel’s ongoing and widely condemned weaponization of life-sustaining aid like food and medical supplies is leading to preventable suffering and death in Gaza, according to health care workers desperately trying to save their Palestinian patients amid an obliterated health system.

A Wednesday report by Physicians for Human Rights warns that doctors are being forced to make life-or-death decisions for patients with normally survivable conditions because they don’t have the necessary medical supplies.

For the past 21 months, doctors and other medical staff in Gaza have been treating patients either killed or wounded from Israel dropping U.S.-made bombs. Patients also come from controversial militarized aid sites, where Palestinians say Israeli forces carry out daily massacres.

“Treatable injuries transformed into terminal harm,” PHR executive director Sam Zarifi said. “Volunteer medical professionals face systematic Israeli policies and practices that directly prevent them from caring for the wounded and sick in Gaza.”