Since 7 October 2023, 1,571 Palestinian Health Care workers have been killed by Israeli forces. In addition to those deaths, 446 have been taken prisoner. Six have died whilst in captivity and their bodies have not been released to their families. Five Health Care Workers are reported missing – they could be dead and buried under rubble, or in Israel’s military detention camps.
The destruction of Gaza’s medical facilities, and the decimation of the Health Care workforce, alongside withholding humanitarian aid is a fundamental part of Israel’s genocidal strategy to ethnically cleanse Palestine of the Palestinian people to create a ‘Greater Israel’.
“GEM (Gaza Educate Medics) is a humanitarian educational project that aims to preserve medical education within Gaza. It is supported by both the
medical schools within Gaza. GEM is accredited by Al Azhar University Medical School and the Medical School of Islamic University Gaza and both Deans are part of the Board of Directors of the Scheme.” – The GemEdu Project
The Gaza Educate Medics Scheme provides online courses to allow Palestinian students to continue with their studies.
The poem at the start of this article is from ‘Do You See?’ by Steve Haigh, a booklet produced by Edinburgh Health Workers 4Palestine.
Today, 11 July, another vigil will take place in Orkney. The islands’ peace campaign has been meeting on the Kirk Green since the end of October 2023, between the hours of 1 and 2pm. Its aims have remained the same: a permanent ceasefire and the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.
After the Orkney vigil a kite flying event will be taking place at The Peedie Sea. This is an international action of solidarity with the village of Burin, where children and families will be flying kites at its traditional festival. The Orkney organisers welcome anyone who wishes to join with them at the Peace Vigil and at the kite flying event to please do so.
These acts by groups across Scotland may seem small but taken together they form a substantial body of support for the people of Palestine.
Refaat Alareer, the Palestinian poet who was killed in an Israeli air strike on December 6 2023 along with his brother, his brother’s son, his sister and her three children, wrote ‘If I Must Die’ –
If I Must Die by Refaat Alareer
translated by D. P. Snyder
If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze —
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself —
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above,
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love.
If I must die
let it bring hope,
let it be a story.
Israel continues to target and kill Health Care workers in Palestine and now into Lebanon. It is a war crime to do so.
The internationally renowned paediatrician Dr Hassam Abu Safiya who has been in an Israeli prison, without charge or trial since 27 December 2024, and where he has been tortured is in such a poor state of health that he may die.
Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International said:
“The details emerging about the deteriorating conditions of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s detention are truly horrifying.
“We are deeply alarmed by the reports from his lawyer indicating that his life is at imminent risk amidst his ongoing unlawful detention.
“It is unconscionable that a paediatrician, who has dedicated his life to saving others in the occupied Gaza Strip, is being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment – including severe physical and psychological abuse and prolonged solitary confinement – while being detained without any justification.
“The Israeli authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. Pending his release, the Israeli Prison Service must ensure he is fully protected from abuse, granted adequate medical care and allowed immediate access to independent monitors, including the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), which must also be granted access to all other Palestinians detainees.”
Dr Hussam Abu Safiya is being held in Rakevet detention centre, an underground section beneath the Ayalon prison complex, where detainees, mostly Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, are subjected to systematic torture and inhumane treatment. The detention centre was re-opened during the genocide having been originally closed in 1985 for its inhumane conditions.
Today, Saturday 11 July, islanders and visitors to Orkney will again meet in vigil and in their thoughts will be Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the thousands of Palestinians illegally imprisoned by Israel, and of the people of Palestine in their struggle to maintain some semblance of every day life. Or even to fly a kite.
Fiona Grahame
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