Healthcare workers under fire: the view from Palestine

29 January 2024

At Women in Global Health, we have watched with horror the events that have unfolded in Israel and Gaza since the start of October 2023. We have been staunch in our support of our women colleagues in Gaza, who must continue to carry out their life-saving work as health workers under continuous attack and in deeply traumatic circumstances. 

The seriousness of the situation in Gaza cannot be overstated – its devastating consequences will be felt for generations to come. We reiterate the need to immediately cease all attacks on health facilities and on civilians, and to allow desperately needed humanitarian aid to reach the nearly two million people who have been displaced and who are experiencing unimaginable distress and deprivation.

We urge you to read the sobering testimony of our colleague Dr Duha Shellah, who has been writing since the start of the conflict about her experience witnessing devastation and despair among a health workforce pushed to its limit, as it tries to deliver lifesaving care to patients in the worst imaginable circumstances. It is well documented that women, especially pregnant women, have special health needs and are at very grave risk during conflict. The voices of health workers must be heard and amplified at times like this, and Duha’s plea for an immediate ceasefire could not be clearer. Health workers can never be a target. 

Dr Duha Shellah is co-lead of the incoming Women in Global Health Chapter in Palestine. She is a Coordinator at the Medical and Health Sciences Division, Palestine Academy for Science and Technology, West Bank, Palestine, and Research & Teaching Assistant, the Faculty of Medicine, Arab American University (AAUP)

Read Duha’s articles:

• The Lancet, How much suffering is enough? A look at what is happening in Gaza
• Intensive Care Medicine, War on Gaza: the impossible duty to care for the critically ill

Watch a video about Duha filmed before the conflict.