British MPs condemn killing of Palestinian medics by Israel forces in Gaza

A number of British Members of Parliament have slammed the killing of Palestinian medics at the hands of Israeli forces in the occupied Gaza Strip.

On 15 July, an Early Day Motion (EDM) entitled “Health Workers in Gaza” was tabled in Parliament.

The EDM begins with a condemnation of “the killing of healthcare workers in Gaza and in particular the recent killing of Gaza paramedic Mohammed Al-Jedaili”, who, the motion adds, was “the fifth Palestinian health worker to be killed by Israeli forces in just over a year”.

The motion then “notes that according to the World Health Organisation more than 750 health workers in Gaza were also injured between 30 March 2018 and 31 May 2019.”

The context for the timeframe is the Great March of Return, and the efforts taken by Israeli forces to violently suppress its associated demonstrations.

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Finally, the EDM also “calls on the Government to take diplomatic steps to ensure that medical workers in Gaza can perform their humanitarian functions without risk of attack”.

MPs are also requesting “an investigation which complies with international standards of independence, impartiality, promptness, thoroughness and transparency into those deaths”.

Israeli military investigations are notorious for what human rights group B’Tselem has described as a “whitewashing” process, with prosecutions of soldiers almost impossible.

The primary sponsor of the new EDM is Labour MP Alex Sobel, with cross-party co-sponsors listed as Jim Cunningham (Labour), Paul Farrelly (Labour), Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat), Sir Peter Bottomley (Conservative), and Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru).

MP signatories who have added their names thus far include Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru), Roger Godsiff (Labour), Ian Mearns (Labour), Ronnie Campbell (Labour), and Dennis Skinner (Labour).

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