It is now just over a year since the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine highlighted its abhorrence of war in general, but particularly the targeting of emergency care workers and healthcare facilities as is being seen in Gaza and identified as a plausible Genocide by the International Court of Justice. Sadly, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is now at its worst point since hostilities began, and we continue to be appalled by the death and serious injury visited on civilian populations.
We stand with the International Federation for Emergency Medicine, the United Nations and NGO chiefs, including the leaders of UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization in describing the killings of both Israelis and Palestinians over the past 14 months as truly horrific. We are particularly concerned that ambulances, hospitals and other medical facilities have been deliberately targeted in the conflict, which even within the inherent awfulness of war, given that it is clearly aimed at limiting the ability to provide aid to the injured, is never acceptable in any military conflict.
The United Nations reports that more aid workers have been killed in 2024 than in any other year on record with 333 humanitarian workers alone killed in Gaza. To those working in Irish Emergency Departments, it is simply unacceptable that a humanitarian worker’s courage and humanity is met with bullets, missiles and bombs. We echo the UN position that States and parties to any conflict must protect humanitarian efforts and uphold international law. Indeed, we underscore the importance of healthcare workers in this conflict, and the need for them to be able to carry out their work in safety and security.
