Normalisation of Israel’s war crimes in Gaza’s hospitals and dehumanisation of Palestinian patients must end

The deliberate targeting of hospitals in Gaza has been a sadistic trend highlighting the normalisation of war crimes in an international system increasingly indifferent to Palestinian suffering.

Since the Israeli military’s strike on Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on 17 October last year, resulting in the immediate loss of over 500 Palestinian patients and medical professionals, the deliberate and systematic targeting of Gaza’s healthcare system has only intensified, reflecting a broader pattern of assaults aimed at crippling medical infrastructure and personnel.

Most recently, the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia town, the last functioning intensive care unit (ICU) in northern Gaza, was bombarded, leaving it in flames and out of service. Palestinian patients on ventilators were evacuated moments before the fire caused by Israel engulfed the ICU. According to the hospital’s Director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the attack involved sudden and intense gunfire, with Israeli forces deliberately targeting the ICU.

“Sudden and crazy gunfire was fired at the hospital with all kinds of weapons, and the occupation deliberately targeted the intensive care unit by firing at it clearly,” Abu Safiya said, noting that the fires were extinguished using only blankets and the limited drinking water left in the hospital.

The ICU, the only one in northern Gaza, is now completely out of service.

Israel’s violence also stole the life of Dr Said Joudah, the last remaining orthopaedic surgeon in the region. Despite having sustained injuries himself, Dr Joudah continued to travel between Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda Hospitals to treat the wounded. Tragically, an Israeli drone strike fatally targeted him. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, his death brought the total number of healthcare workers martyred to 1,057 since the onset of Israel’s war on Gaza. The ministry also reported a devastating toll of 45,000 martyrs and over 106,000 injured since October of last year.

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Before bombs are dropped on hospitals or homes, there’s a process of dehumanisation that lays the groundwork, painting Palestinians as undeserving of dignity or protection. This process makes their suffering easier to ignore, as they are reduced to mere numbers or dismissed as “collateral damage” or “human shields”, stripping them of individuality. Children become “minors”, murdered civilians are referred to as having “died” and massacres are labelled as “chaotic scenes”. This deliberate erosion of humanity, perpetuated by media framing and selective language, anaesthetises the global psyche, numbing it to Israel’s ongoing military onslaught.

The media’s systematic misreporting reinforces the invisibility of Palestinian suffering while amplifying Israeli narratives, legitimising the atrocities under the guise of “defence” or “military operations”.

In Gaza, where the highest number of paediatric amputees is recorded, the scale of devastation has reached unimaginable proportions. Each new tragedy, a child who loses their limbs, another who dies in an airstrike, becomes part of an ever-expanding list of horrors. What was once unthinkable is now seen as routine, as the international community’s outrage wanes with each passing day.

Israel’s strike on Al-Ahli Arab Hospital shocked the world, and for a brief moment, there was global condemnation and talk of accountability. Yet, less than a year later, dozens of other hospitals, United Nations shelters and universities have been bombed. Kamal Adwan Hospital, already strained by water shortages after Israeli attacks on its water tanks, suffered continued shelling and even attacks from exploding robots and the fire in its ICU, which forced the evacuation of patients as the hospital struggled to continue its work.

Dr Abu Safiya described the scene as “catastrophic and dangerous”. He appealed for global intervention, noting that the healthcare system in Gaza has been pleading for protection for months without any response. The hospital faces daily attacks, including strikes on its generators, water tanks and oxygen network, leaving it in a precarious state and unable to serve the growing number of wounded arriving each day.

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These attacks on medical facilities are a blatant violation of international law, which protects hospitals and medical personnel under the Geneva Conventions. Yet, these war crimes have gone unpunished. Israel continues to justify its actions under the banner of “self-defence,” while the global community, particularly Western powers, remains complicit through inaction.

Israel’s actions are shielded by an exceptionalism narrative that grants the state immunity from accountability. While it demands global recognition of its “right to self-defence”, it simultaneously denies Palestinians the right to a body, a home, a life. This duality extends to its self-investigative mechanisms, which consistently exonerate the military from allegations of wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, the international response to Palestinian resistance, whether violent or non-violent, is delegitimised. Boycotts are branded offensive; peaceful protests are vilified. Even pleas for medical evacuations for injured children, such as Ahmed, the four-year-old amputee now receiving care in Italy after being denied entry to the UK, are dismissed.

The relentless assault on Gaza’s healthcare system is not just a Palestinian crisis, it is a global one. Targeting hospitals and civilians constitutes a rupture of international law, a breakdown of the principles that underpin any semblance of world order. As such violations have been going unchallenged, they’ve set a precedent for impunity, eroding the very foundation of human rights and justice.

The cost of dehumanisation is not borne solely by its victims. While Palestinians endure the unimaginable – burying their children, losing their homes and surviving under perpetual siege – those who engage in or enable dehumanisation suffer the slow erosion of their own humanity.

As Gaza’s hospitals burn and its children clutch their dolls beneath the rubble, the world’s silence grows louder. Culprits of genocide like Benjamin Netanyahu receive standing ovations from Western parliaments, while war crimes mount unchecked. Each passing day narrows the window for accountability and with it, the chance to reclaim a moral compass recognising every human life as sacred.

The normalisation of Israel’s attacks on hospitals in Gaza must end. The global community cannot afford to look away.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.