New York- USA August 14, 2025 –
In a grave escalation of criticism, a group of United Nations experts has accused Israel of intentionally destroying the healthcare system in Gaza in what they describe as “medicide.” The experts, including Special Rapporteurs on the right to health and human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, issued a joint statement accusing Israel of deliberately targeting and starving healthcare workers to wipe out medical services in the besieged enclave.
The term “medicide” was defined by the experts as a “sinister component of the intentional creation of conditions calculated to destroy Palestinians in Gaza,” which they asserted constitutes an act of genocide. They pointed to the continuous targeting, detention, and torture of health and care workers, as well as their deliberate starvation, as evidence of a systematic effort to dismantle the healthcare infrastructure. The UN has reported instances of medical staff fainting from hunger, which compromises their ability to care for patients and further weakens the already collapsed system.
According to data cited by the experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been 735 attacks on healthcare in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and June 11, 2025. These attacks have reportedly resulted in the deaths of 917 people and injured 1,411, while damaging 125 health facilities, including 34 hospitals. The experts stressed that these “deliberate attacks on health and care workers, and health facilities, which are gross violations of international humanitarian law, must stop now.”
The accusations are not isolated, but rather form part of a broader body of criticism leveled against Israel by various international and human rights organizations. Reports from groups like Physicians for Human Rights have documented the extreme restrictions on medical supplies, with vital items like anesthesia, painkillers, and sanitation materials being prohibited under a broad and vaguely defined “dual-use” policy. This has made both immediate and long-term medical care virtually impossible for the people of Gaza, with essential services like dialysis, maternal care, and cancer treatment being wiped out.
The UN experts’ statement comes amidst a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the death toll from the conflict has surpassed 61,000, and over 235 people, including 106 children, have died from starvation and malnutrition. The destruction of the healthcare system has only exacerbated this crisis, with a senior UN official stating that the situation has gone from a looming hunger crisis to “starvation, pure and simple.” A recent report from a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) doctor described the healthcare system as a “broken shell, barely functioning,” with facilities overwhelmed by a wave of patients and a severe lack of essential supplies.
The UN experts’ statement concluded with a call for an immediate ceasefire as a “first step to hold Israel accountable” and to prevent what they termed “the extermination” of Gaza’s population. They urged the international community to take action to save what remains of the healthcare system and address the deliberate imposition of conditions that make life untenable for Palestinians in the occupied territory. The accusations of “medicide” add a new and chilling dimension to the international discourse on the conflict, placing the destruction of the healthcare system at the center of the debate on war crimes and human rights violations.
