Today the world witnessed the brutal murder of healthcare in Gaza. 

The healthcare system has been a direct target for 35 days. Our staff and our fellow healthcare workers have endured unimaginable pressures and tragedies during this time, and we are distressed to say the situation continues to deteriorate. 

As we write, Shifa hospital, the largest and most important in Gaza, is under siege. This comes after days of bombing and carnage. Shifa hospital hours ago ran out of electricity and had their oxygen line bombed. Israeli snipers are shooting anything that moves, either into or out of the hospital. So far 39 premature babies in incubators have been killed. There is no food and no water left inside. Drs report they wait for death to encroach as they watch their patients die and the dead pile up in front of them. 

The international community appears to choose helplessness and statements over action to end these crimes or to hold the perpetrators accountable. We, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, the people of Gaza and the people of Palestine have been screaming for the last 16 years to end the illegal siege and to draw attention to the 2.5 million hostages held by Israel in Gaza. 

For the last 16 years the healthcare workers of Gaza have worked tirelessly to prop up a healthcare system that was ravaged by 16 years of siege, war, and blockade. We have spoken out, countless times about how the health system in Gaza before the 7th couldn’t cope with everyday healthcare. Today the world understood what 16 years of ignoring 2.6 million cries for help, looks like. 

Limbs strewn across hospital premises, burning pediatric hospitals, bombed delivery suites + ICUs and Drs fearing for their lives should never be allowed to be a reality. Healthcare workers and patients, starving and dehydrated should never be allowed to happen. Mothers having caesarians without anesthesia should never be normal. Children rummaging through debris to find body parts of loved ones, should never be something we watch from the palms our hands. 

Yet we are watching, and we see somehow that to the leaders of the world this is ok. We see that Palestinian pain is normal and acceptable. We understand that international law was only meant for some. 

Today, we say ENOUGH, once and for all. Today we say Palestinians have the RIGHT TO HEALTH. We say Palestinians have a right to protection and freedom. Was today enough to make the world feel our pain? Instead of passively watching it. Was today enough to stop tomorrow?