Reem AbuLebdeh, an associate trustee of the MSF (Doctors without Borders) UK Board has been killed along with members of her family at their home in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Although she was killed in December 2023 news only got through to MSF at the start of March.
Reem worked as a physiotherapist for MSF in Gaza from 2018 until 2022, and last year was appointed as an associate trustee of the MSF UK Board. Many members of her family are still unaccounted for and the house in which she was sheltering with her parents and siblings is still too dangerous to approach.
MSF teams continue to provide medical care in various locations in southern Gaza, including in Rafah where 1.5 million forcibly displaced people are living in dire conditions with extremely limited access to medical care and humanitarian aid. The organisation continues to call for an immediate ceasefire.
Medical Workers Targeted
In November 2023, Lab technician Mohammed Al Ahel, was killed in an airstrike with members of his family; volunteer nurse Alaa Al-Shawa was shot in the head during a planned evacuation MSF convoy; doctors Mahmoud Abu Nujaila and Ahmad Al Sahar were killed following a strike on Al Awda hospital.
The total number of people killed in Gaza is at least 30,878, with 72,402 Palestinians injured. These figures are likely to be an underestimate as many lie below the rubble of buildings unable to be rescued due to Israeli sniper attacks.
According to Israeli authorities, over 1200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed inside Israel, and approximately 5,400 reported injuries. There have been 244 reported fatalities and 1,451 reported injuries of Israeli soldiers since the start of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip. One hundred and thirty four hostages remain in Gaza.
This is the latest situation report from the World Health Organisation:
Gazans who have nowhere else to run to, are living in deplorable sub-human conditions in Rafah. Any ground assault by Israeli forces on Rafah would incur massive loss of life and would heighten the risk of further atrocity crimes.
Relief agency UNRWA report that on average, 63 women are killed in Gaza per day. Many of the women are mothers.
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Jeremy Laurence stated:
“Israel, as the occupying power, must – we repeat – fully comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law to provide the increasingly desperate civilian population of Gaza with the necessary food and medical supplies, or, if it is unable to do so, ensure that the population has access to critical life-saving humanitarian assistance commensurate with their needs.
“Border crossings and corridors must be fully opened and steps must be taken to ensure the free and secure movement of aid convoys to civilians wherever they are located within the Gaza strip if wider starvation and needless suffering are to be averted.”
Killings and Attacks Continue in the West Bank
While so many remain silent on Gaza, Israel continues to expand settlements into the West Bank with the construction of a further 3,476 homes and bulldozing those of Palestinians.
Volker Türk. the UN High Commissioner for Human rights, said that the establishment and continuing expansion of settlements amounts to Israeli transferring its own civilian population into the territories that it occupies – a war crime under international law.
Latest UN figures show that, since 7 October, there have been 603 settler attacks against Palestinians. A total of 1,222 Palestinians from 19 herding communities have been displaced as a direct result of settler violence. The UN rights office OHCHR has documented nine Palestinians killed by settlers using firearms. A further 396 have been killed by Israeli security forces, and two killed by either Israeli security forces or settlers. 592 people, including 282 children, have been displaced in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, after their homes were demolished due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain.
Demonstrations continue across Scotland and around the world calling for an immediate ceasefire. In Orkney islanders will again meet on the steps of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, on Saturday between 1 and 2pm.
You can watch the latest film by Mike Robertson here:
And you can download WHO’s most recent situation report here:
Fiona Grahame