As a doctor by profession, humble in my mission to preserve human lives, I find the continuing attacks on healthcare facilities and workers in Gaza deeply disturbing. Our medical fraternity is built on the pillars of equality, compassion, care, and justice, principles upheld not just in the UK, but worldwide. These core values are under siege when hospitals and healthcare institutions become targets in conflict zones.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that from 2018 to 2020 alone, a total of 157 attacks were carried out against healthcare in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, causing danger to staff and leaving countless patients without necessary care (WHO Report, 2020).

Such activities do not only represent a gross violation of international humanitarian law, but they also have immediate and severe impacts on the afflicted populations' health. The Geneva Convention specifies that hospitals and healthcare facilities in conflict zones must be regarded as neutral and protected by all parties involved in the conflict.

It is time to reinforce the sanctity of health as a fundamental human right. No region in the world should be deprived of quality healthcare, much less one under continual strife and turmoil like Gaza. By letting aggression perpetuate against these institutes, we risk normalizing a dreadful precedent for sites of conflict around the world.

I thus urge the international community, governments, and human rights organizations to take immediate and stringent measures to stop these atrocities against medical facilities and healthcare workers in Gaza. Please sign this petition to raise your voice against this blatant disregard for human life and dignity. Let's uphold our physicians' oath to protect lives and stand together to ensure that medical facilities remain places of healing, not harm.