United Nations experts have accused Israel of committing “medical genocide” in Gaza, warning that the systematic destruction of the enclave’s healthcare system, coupled with starvation and the targeting of medical workers, forms part of the wider genocide against Palestinians.

In a joint statement, UN Special Rapporteurs Tlaleng Mofokeng and Francesca Albanese said Gaza’s hospitals and medical staff are being deliberately crippled. “We are witnesses to an ongoing genocide, and to ‘medical genocide’, where healthcare is dismantled by design,” they declared.

According to the World Health Organization, Israeli attacks have struck Gaza’s health sector 735 times since October 2023, killing 917 people, injuring over 1,400, and destroying dozens of hospitals and clinics. Doctors are collapsing from hunger, medicines and equipment have run out, and thousands of patients, from children with cancer to those on dialysis, face slow, preventable deaths.

The experts urged the international community to act immediately, demanding an end to the assault on healthcare, unfettered entry of medical and food supplies, and accountability for what they described as war crimes and acts of genocide. For Gaza’s civilians, survival now depends on whether the world chooses silence or action.