The letter emphasized that Israel “has systematically undermined” Gaza’s healthcare system for more than two decades.
Several artists, including Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, and Mahershala Ali, have joined humanitarian organizations and doctors in condemning Israel for systematically destroying the healthcare system in Gaza, demanding unconditional humanitarian access into the enclave as well as the immediate release of medical workers detained by Israel.
“Israel’s systematic attacks on hospitals and unlawful blockade have collapsed Gaza’s healthcare system,” the signatories stated in a letter published by The Guardian. “It has been bombarded into collapse, and the majority of hospitals damaged or destroyed, requiring makeshift clinics to be built while still being bombarded.”
NEW | Dozens of Artists and Doctors Demand Urgent Medical Access in Gaza
Dozens of international artists, doctors, and human rights groups have joined forces to demand an end to Israel’s “systematic attacks” on Gaza’s medical facilities, warning that the territory’s healthcare… pic.twitter.com/o5wmhgHxQR
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 12, 2026
The letter emphasized that Israel “has systematically undermined” Gaza’s healthcare system for more than two decades, adding that since October 2023, the healthcare system has been “under direct attack”.
It stated that “1,153 of the 2,925 attacks on healthcare in the entire world took place in Palestine alone.”
Hind Rajab
The letter, addressed to “World Leaders”, opened with the words of five-year-old Hind Rajab: “I’m so scared … please come.”
Hind spent more than three hours on the phone with the Palestine Red Crescent Society on January 29, 2024, pleading to be rescued, after all her family members were killed in their car by the Israeli military. For more than three hours, PRSC rescuers waited for a green light from the Israeli authorities to conduct their rescue, only to be killed by Israeli occupation forces after their mission was approved, the letter stated.
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The letter stressed that the killing of Hind, her family, and her rescuers “is not an isolated tragedy,” but a “devastating reflection of a broader truth.”
Hind’s mother, Wesam Hamada, is the first signatory on the letter, along with Action Aid International, Israeli rights group B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, and Physicians for Human Rights – Israel.
High Rate of Child Amputees
The letter highlighted that “an entire population has been besieged,” with hundreds of thousands being injured, disappeared and killed, adding that Gaza now has the largest number of child amputees in modern history, and at least 20,000 Palestinian children have been killed since October 2023.
“Their killings cannot be ignored, and the lives of Palestinian children and all survivors still doing all they can to live must be protected,” the letter stated.
Over 170,000 Injuries with 5,000 Amputees – WHO Details Gaza Health Crisis
The signatories urged the international community and its leaders to demand the immediate restoration of access to movement between Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as an integral part of the Palestinian healthcare system.
Medical Evacuees
Medical personnel and patients must be allowed to resume movement in both directions, including back into the Gaza Strip following treatment, they stated.
The letter also urged the “immediate, unconditional, unhindered and sustained humanitarian access into Palestine and within all areas as non-negotiable.”
Medicines, Medical Supplies in Gaza Reaching ‘Catastrophic Levels’
Aid awaiting authorization in all crossings, including the West Bank, must be allowed to enter immediately “as a legal and moral obligation, not a concept up for bargaining.”
They also demanded that medical and humanitarian personnel awaiting entry from the West Bank and abroad be granted access “without further delays and arbitrary restrictions.”
Need for Reconstruction Materials
In addition, they demanded the entry of materials needed for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of essential infrastructure in Gaza, including medical facilities, temporary or mobile clinics, and “dignified shelter for forcibly displaced communities, including prefabricated homes that can stand the winter.”
The signatories also demand the immediate release of medical and humanitarian personnel arbitrarily detained.
Displaced Palestinian families try to repair their damaged tents after harsh weather hit Nuseirat camp in central Gaza. pic.twitter.com/1DxGObUcyC
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 13, 2026
They also urged an investigation into “any denial of medical care or targeting of medical and humanitarian personnel, equipment and facilities.”
‘Silence Cannot Continue’
“Hold perpetrators accountable in domestic, regional and international courts as a measure of justice for the victims, and a deterrence from further violations against survivors,” the letter stated.
Dr. Mohammad Abu Silmia, Director of Al-Shifa Hospital, warns that Israel’s blockade is stifling Gaza, where humanitarian aid is limited, food insecurity is widespread, over 80% of the population faces poverty and malnutrition, children rely on IV fluids for survival, and more… pic.twitter.com/uebsMJMhtM
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 13, 2026
They said Hind’s final call for help “was met with silence.”
“That silence cannot continue. Every day that medical aid and healthcare workers are blocked and attacked, children’s chances at survival are put at further risk,” the letter stated.
Obligations under Ceasefire Deal
They also emphasized that Israel must be held accountable for its obligations under the ceasefire agreement and international law.
“Without a clear and forceful international response, Palestinian deaths, and patterns of medical aid obstruction will continue,” the letter stated.
Concerns Rise over Infections, Disease as Gaza’s Displaced Battle Dire Conditions
The letter urged world leaders to also take immediate action to secure guaranteed safe passage for medical patients entering and leaving Gaza, as well as to prioritize reopening all crossings and re-establishing the West Bank–East Jerusalem corridor.
It noted that in the West Bank, attacks on healthcare and mass displacement also continue without international coverage or response.
Despite a US-brokered ceasefire that took effect in October last year, Israel has killed 447 Palestinians and injured 1,246 more, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
This raises the total death toll since Israel launched its genocidal assault on Gaza two years ago to 71,424, with 171,324 injured.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
I’m sure that the ICJ-CIJ is taking notice. This is Genocide Convention Article 2 “(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;” to a t. Then you consider the necessity of providing healthcare to women in childbirth, and “(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;” gets added.