On January 25th, Irish healthcare workers will travel to the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in Geneva to join other healthcare workers from across the world in support of Palestine. There will be an international press conference held on January 26th and the protest against the genocide in Gaza will continue until January 29th. The healthcare workers are calling for a permanent ceasefire in Palestine, the immediate release of all imprisoned healthcare workers and civilians, and the restoration of Red Cross Access to Palestinians imprisoned by Israeli authorities. They will also demand UN protection for Gaza’s healthcare workers and patients, and that a safe humanitarian corridor is established to allow aid in and sick and injured people out. They will also demand that the UN hold Israel accountable for violations of International Law.
Photos on the website of the International White Tent Protest depict healthcare workers holding posters with the slogans: “Healthcare is not a target” and “Ceasefire and Corridor”. The movement holds that “the United Nations has failed in its purpose of maintaining international peace and security” and has joined together to demand that action is taken “now”.
Irish General Practitioner Dr Angela Skuce has said: “Every country in the world has watched as Israel commits genocide in Gaza, and we have not acted to stop it. Week after week, for more than a year, HealthCare Workers across the world have spoken out against the killing and abduction of our colleagues, the destruction of a healthcare system, and the denial of health and life to the Palestinian people. Now we are coming together, from across the world, to stand in solidarity with our colleagues, our brothers and sisters, in Palestine – to do our duty and to advocate for the health of a nation, and the protection of healthcare.”
GP Dr Fiona Downey has said: “’What kind of health care workers would we be, if we did not demand an end to the killing of children – shot in the head or frozen to death; an end to the killing of paramedics – blown up in their ambulance trying to reach a family trapped under rubble; the release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiyah – abducted for staying with his patients as his child was killed and his hospital destroyed around him; justice for Dr Thabat Salim, a paediatrician who wanted to further her studies in Ireland, and who was killed by the Israeli military when she was visiting the sick mother of a friend?”
The healthcare workers will march through Geneva, hold press conferences and workshops, and plan to request meetings with officials from the UN and the World Health Organisation. In the words of one Healthcare worker, “we will raise our voices to the world, until it listens.”
