UN's Albanese calls for medical professionals to cut ties with Israel

The United Nations’ special rapporteur Francesca Albanese accused Israel of enacting an "ongoing genocide."

By DANIELLE GREYMAN-KENNARD, REUTERS JANUARY 1, 2025 11:50

Press briefing by Francesca Albanese, Special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian Territories at UN Headquarters on October 27, 2022. (photo credit: Lev Radin/Shutterstock)

The United Nations’ special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, demanded on X/Twitter on Monday that medical professionals sever ties with Israel in response to the IDF detaining Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safiya.

“I urge medical professionals worldwide to pursue the severance of all ties with Israel as a concrete way to forcefully denounce Israel’s full destruction of the Palestinian healthcare system in Gaza, a critical tool of its ongoing genocide,” Albanese wrote.

I urge medical professionals worldwide to pursue the severance of all ties with Israel as a concrete way to forcefully denounce Israel's full destruction of the Palestinian healthcare system in Gaza, a critical tool of its ongoing genocide.#FreeDrHussanAbuSafiya https://t.co/qzZ7CqufI6

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) December 30, 2024

The IDF arrested Safiya and multiple others during operations at the Kamal Adwan hospital, which the military reported was acting as a Hamas stronghold in northern Gaza.

Although the IDF issued evacuation warnings to the hospital, created defined humanitarian routes, and attempted to mitigate civilian damage, Safiya said they resisted orders by the military, according to Reuters. 

IDF arrests suspected Hamas terrorists outside of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Hamas's hold on Gaza's hospitals

The IDF confirmed Safiya’s arrest, stating he was “suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative.”

Unmentioned by Albanese was Hamas’s repeated abuse of the hospital and other civilian infrastructure, as evidenced by IDF releases. 

On Tuesday, the IDF released footage proving Hamas terrorists had planted explosives only meters from the hospital grounds.

The IDF published footage in October 2024 of a staff member at the hospital confirming, "Hamas military operatives are present; they are in the courtyards, at the gates of the buildings, in the offices of Kamal Adwan Hospital. They operate ambulances to transport their wounded military operatives, and to transport them for their missions, and this is instead of using the ambulances for the benefit of civilians." 

In previous operations at the hospital, the IDF located weapons, money used for terror purposes, Hamas intelligence documents, and arrested some 100 terrorists.

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Last month, 60 terrorists surrendered outside the hospital after failing to flee during an IDF operation, which saw the medical institute and surrounding areas encircled by troops.  At least one of the terrorists detained posed as a staff member and was found to have participated in the October 7 massacre, the IDF reported.

Despite evidence of Hamas's presence, a UN Human Rights Office report on Tuesday condemned Israeli attacks on hospitals in Gaza, saying they had devastated the Palestinian enclave's health system and raised serious concerns about Israel's compliance with international law.

The 23-page report concluded that since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, against Israel, the conduct of hostilities in Gaza had "destroyed" local healthcare.

"The destruction of the healthcare system in Gaza, and the extent of killing of patients, staff, and other civilians in these attacks, is a direct consequence of the disregard of international humanitarian and human rights law," it said.