Jane Nellist, Coventry Socialist Party
This harrowing and very powerful documentary, which is described as a “forensic investigation of Israeli attacks on Gaza’s hospitals”, is an important testament about the brutal way that the Israeli government has systematically destroyed the healthcare system in Gaza.
It lays bare the brutal assaults on the hospital infrastructure in Gaza and more importantly, the deliberate targeting of medical staff and their families, particularly the highly trained and dedicated doctors. As one contributor explains, you can set up a hospital quite quickly but to replace the skilled surgeons takes many years.
The documentary was originally commissioned by the BBC, but their controversial decision to refuse to show it has caused much anger and criticism.
It’s only been possible to see it, because the BBC gave the film back to the production company, Basement Films, and Channel 4 agreed to broadcast it.
The film clearly goes to great lengths to avoid any accusations similar to those made against the BBC documentary about children in Gaza, which was controversially withdrawn as one of the children was a relative of a Hamas official. A voiceover tells us on a number of occasions that some doctors interviewed have expressed support for Hamas.
The United Nations has reported that over the period covered in the documentary, they found that there were at least 136 strikes on at least 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities, claiming significant casualties among doctors, nurses, medics and other civilians, and causing significant damage, if not complete destruction of civilian healthcare infrastructure. That, it said, was a war crime!
This film graphically shows what the impact of these attacks are, not just for the medical personnel and their families, but for the Gazan people as a whole left without a functioning healthcare system, causing needless deaths and lifelong misery.
Doctors are shown being forced to leave one hospital by the IDF and marched to the south of Gaza. Evading soldiers, they find another hospital in the north to work in and save lives. They repeated that until they are captured again and sent to detention centres where they suffer the most horrendous conditions and systematic torture, only to return to what little healthcare is left in Gaza – if they survive!
The film also focuses on the Israeli ‘Black Sites’ set up in Gaza to hold prisoners with no oversight, brutally interrogating those held for any information they may have about the hostages held by Hamas.
In another section of the film, an anonymous Israeli medic recalls seeing a Palestinian detainee being forced to undergo an operation with no anaesthetic. Compare that to the courage of these doctors and medical staff who have suffered and lost family members, sacrificing so much to support their communities and save lives.
I would urge anyone to watch this film, it’s the least we can do to bear testament to these crimes.
For me as a socialist, the only answer to this barbarity is to redouble your efforts to fight for a better socialist world!
- Watch now at channel4.com/programmes/gaza-doctors-under-attack
