For the first time, the Israel Medical Association (IMA) sent letters this week to top defense officials to call for “ensuring medical equipment and basic humanitarian conditions” for the Gaza Strip’s civilian population.
The appeals to IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir; Maj. Gen. Rasan Alian, head of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT); and Defense Minister Israel Katz follow growing international scrutiny and a recent decision by the British Medical Association (BMA) to suspend ties with the IMA over the war in Gaza.
“We would like to emphasize the need to ensure medical equipment and basic humanitarian conditions for the civilian population in Gaza,” Professor Zion Hagay, the IMA chairman, wrote in his letters. “This is required both by medical ethics and morality and by international humanitarian law.”
In the letters, he referred to a claim by the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry that 73 people were killed while waiting for humanitarian aid on Sunday.
“If this is accurate, it represents a serious violation of medical ethics and international law,” Hagay wrote.
In response to growing claims of deaths near aid sites, the IDF has admitted to firing “warning shots” to control crowds, while insisting that reported death tolls were “inflated.”
In an interview with the Hebrew news outlet Ynet, Hagay said that the IMA is receiving an increase in inquiries from the World Medical Association about recent events in Gaza.
“In Europe, they are seeing much more than what is being reported in the Israeli media—images of destruction and casualties,” he said. “We’re asking for clarification so that we can respond responsibly and accurately.”
“We know nothing,” he said. “We have no data.”
For the duration of the war in Gaza, Israel has restricted the entry of foreign journalists into the Strip.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, killed 1,200 people amid acts of barbarity, and kidnapped 251 into Gaza.
Last month, the British Medical Association voted to suspend ties with its Israeli counterpart, citing concerns over attacks on Gaza’s healthcare system.
The calls from the IMA come amid mounting international criticism about the crisis in Gaza. On Tuesday, the director of Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry told Al Jazeera that an “unprecedented” 20 people in Gaza had died from starvation in the past 48 hours.
“A total of 88 people have died from hunger in Gaza [since the start of the war] so far, including 78 children,” Munir Al-Barash told the Qatari outlet.
The figures cannot be independently verified.
Last month, the British Medical Association voted to suspend ties with its Israeli counterpart, citing concerns over attacks on Gaza’s healthcare system. On its website, the BMA states that it has taken a “number of actions,” including issuing a call for a ceasefire, respect for international humanitarian law and the immediate release of all hostages.”
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said.
British delegates of the World Medical Association have also called for the IMA to be suspended from the World Medical Association.
“The IMA reiterates its call to take all necessary measures to avoid, as much as possible, harm to innocent civilians as well as to rescue, medical and aid workers,” Hagay wrote.