The Irish Association for Emergency Medicine represents doctors who staff Ireland’s Emergency Departments. We are appalled with the associated death and serious injury visited on civilian populations as a consequence of the Israeli-Hamas war. We wish to show solidarity with the UN and NGO chiefs, including the leaders of UNICEF, UN Women, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and Save the Children, in describing the killings of both Israelis and Palestinians over the past month as horrific.
We are particularly concerned to hear of incidents where ambulances, hospitals and other medical facilities have been deliberately targeted, which even within the inherent awfulness of war is never acceptable in any military conflict. Scores of aid workers have been killed since October 7 including 88 UN Relief and Works Agency colleagues – the highest number of United Nations fatalities ever recorded in a single conflict.
We echo the European Union calls for humanitarian corridors and pauses to allow for humanitarian needs to be met with immediate effect to save lives and relieve suffering.
Download: IAEM Statement on Israel-Hamas war
