[fse-esf] statement for the destruction of PMRS hospital in Gaza

[Yannis Almpanis]

Statement



At approximately 10:30pm on Wednesday 27 February, an Israeli air strike
hit
the Ministry of Interior building in Gaza
 City. The attack
also
destroyed the head office of Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS)
in Gaza,
and killed Mohammad
Nasser Al-Borey, a 6-month-old baby who was in his family home inside a
United
Nations school compound. The offices the Al Mezan Centre for Human
Rights had
vacated last month fearing such an attack have also been damaged. Over
30
civilians were injured in this specific attack.



The PMRS head office was housing the main PMRS clinic in the Gaza Strip,
including its main pharmacy, a mobile clinic, a loan centre for persons
with
disabilities and all administrative offices. The mobile clinic, all the
medicine supplies and most of the equipment have been destroyed. The
building
itself is badly damaged and cannot be used again without extensive
repairs.



This bombardment is part of ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip: over the
last 24
hours, there have been over 15 people killed (including at least three
children) over 30 people injured (including several children) in over 25
Israeli air strikes and artillery strikes. One of the artillery strikes
hit a
crowd of children playing football near a wedding hall in the Jabalia
area,
killing two children and injuring five.



Israel’s
aerial bombing in the centre of a densely-populated city is an illegal
means of
warfare; it is clear that these attacks will directly cause civilian
casualties
and damage to civilian property and infrastructure. The targeting of
schools,
clinics and ministries is a war crime. 



These attacks come amidst the ongoing collective punishment of the
occupied
civilian population of Gaza;
this includes the restricting fuel, electricity, food, medical and
humanitarian
supplies – resulting in humanitarian crisis. Since the start of 2008,
132
Gazans have been killed in Israeli attacks; it is estimated that over 44
civilians have died as a result of being denied access to medical
care.



The international community has an obligation to ensure that
international
humanitarian law is upheld by all parties.
International
donors must take a stand against all ongoing violations, and
particularly
address the destruction of Palestinian civil society projects and
infrastructure
that they support.



ACSUR Las Segovias (Spain) 



Al-Mezan Centre for
Human Rights (Palestine) 




Alternative Information
Centre (Israel/Palestine) 




CISS – Cooperazione
Internazionale Sud Sud (Italy) 




C.R.I.C.
(Italy) 




Diakonia Regional Middle
East Office (Sweden) 




MAP-UK
(United
Kingdom)


medico international e.V. (Germany) 




medico international
Schweiz (Switzerland) 




Norwegian People’s Aid –
Palestine 




Olive Oil Campaign /
Kampagne Olivenöl (Switzerland) 




Palestinian Medical
Relief Society (PMRS), Palestine 




The Palestine
Solidarity Association of Sweden 




Physicians for Human
Rights – Israel 




Terres des Hommes
Italy 




Women Against Violence
(Israel) 


Zochrot
(Israel)
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