ISCRIVITI - Ti informeremo sulla nostra azione di cura e testimonianza
Providing medical care is not a crime.
Dear colleagues,
We are addressing the public and, in particular, the medical and healthcare community: Medical Associations, scientific societies, healthcare networks, hospitals, and all health professionals.
We urge you to publicly endorse the petition launched by Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) for the immediate release of 14 Palestinian doctors from Gaza whose cases have been brought before the Israeli Supreme Court, as well as for the release of all Palestinian healthcare workers from Gaza who are being unlawfully or arbitrarily detained by Israel.
These physicians are not distant figures. They are professionals who share with us the responsibility to provide care. Under extreme circumstances, they continued to treat the wounded, the sick, and people with no other access to medical assistance. Their detention affects not only their individual freedom: it also deprives an already devastated civilian population of essential medical expertise.
This case is part of a broader pattern of arrests, detentions, and allegations of abuse against Palestinian healthcare workers. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), since 7 October 2023, more than 1,000 healthcare workers have been killed and over 600 have been detained by the Israeli authorities, with approximately 200 reportedly still in custody. PHRI reports that detained physicians have been denied adequate medical care and nutrition and subjected to physical abuse. International human rights organisations have also drawn attention to the case of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a pediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was arrested in 2024. Amnesty International has called for his immediate and unconditional release.
The Israeli authorities reject these allegations. Nevertheless, the evidence and testimonies collected by PHRI and other international organisations raise serious and well-documented concerns regarding the conditions of detention and the human rights violations suffered by detained healthcare workers. In its legal action, PHRI identifies the 14 Palestinian physicians whose cases it is currently litigating and details the proceedings it has initiated before the Israeli authorities to secure their release in accordance with international humanitarian law. Their cases are part of the broader call for the release of all Palestinian healthcare workers from Gaza who are being unlawfully or arbitrarily detained.
For MEDU – Doctors for Human Rights Italy, this issue directly concerns the medical community. It is not only a humanitarian crisis; it is a crisis affecting the right to health, the protection of the medical mission, and the fundamental principles of the healing professions. When healthcare professionals are detained without formal charges, without adequate due process guarantees, and under conditions incompatible with their safety and dignity, the entire medical community has a responsibility to speak out.
This is not about taking a political or ideological position on the conflict. It is about defending the principles that underpin the healthcare professions: every person’s right to receive medical care, the obligation to protect those who provide it, the inviolability of healthcare facilities, and the rejection of the criminalisation of medical and humanitarian work.
For these reasons, MEDU calls upon the medical and healthcare community to publicly endorse this appeal and to:
call for the immediate release of the 14 Palestinian physicians and all other healthcare workers detained without formal charges;
demand guaranteed access to legal counsel, family visits, adequate medical care, and independent monitoring of detention conditions for all detained healthcare workers;
urge the Italian Government, European institutions, and the relevant international bodies to engage with the Israeli authorities to secure the release of Palestinian healthcare workers and the reopening of the humanitarian corridor between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank;
promote public initiatives to break the silence surrounding the detention of Palestinian physicians and the protection of the medical mission.
The neutrality of medical care does not mean neutrality in the face of violations of the rights of those who provide care.
Securing the release of these doctors is a professional, ethical, and humanitarian responsibility.
Providing medical care is not a crime.
The physicians listed in PHRI’s appeal are:
Dr. Musab Samaan; Dr. Omar Amar; Dr. Ahmad Musa; Dr. Nahad Abu Taima; Dr. Medhat Abu Tabng’a; Dr. Husam Abu Safiya; Dr. Murad Alkuka; Dr. Mahmud Hallak; Dr. Hamza Abu Sabha; Dr. Ahmad Shahada; Dr. Hassan Almukayed; Dr. Raed Mahdi; Dr. Akram Abu Odeh; and Dr. Muhammad Ubaid.
The original PHRI appeal, including the names and profiles of the detained physicians, together with MEDU’s Italian translation, is available at:
https://www.phr.org.il/en/release-the-14-gaza-doctors
Al Jazeera, “How Israel destroyed Gaza’s health system ‘deliberately and methodically'”
PHRI Report, “A ‘Model of Coexistence’? Suppression, Silencing and Burnout among Palestinian Healthcare Workers in Israel”
PHRI Position Paper, “Destruction of Conditions of Life: A Health Analysis of the Gaza Genocide”