Doctors of the World denounces “conditions of monstrous inhumanity”

At least 40 people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a humanitarian zone in the Palestinian enclave.

An Israeli strike on the al-Mawassi humanitarian zone in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip left at least 40 dead and 60 wounded on Tuesday, according to the Civil Defense. “For 11 months, there have never really been any safe zones, at least not any effective so-called ‘humanitarian’ protected zones in the Gaza Strip”denounced Jean-François Corty, doctor, president of Médecins du Monde and associate researcher at IRIS, on franceinfo on Tuesday, September 10. “These are conditions of monstrous inhumanity” Or “Civilians know they can die at any time”he continues. For Jean-François Corty, “The international community is missing out on this human tragedy.”

franceinfo: Is this area of ​​al-Mawassi humanitarian only in name?

Jean-François Corty: For 11 months, there have never really been any safe zones, at least not any effective so-called “humanitarian” protected zones in the Gaza Strip. There have been several bombings in these zones that have killed civilians. These zones are not really humanitarian and they do not really have any legal value, they were decided unilaterally by the Israeli army. International law reminds us that we must distinguish between civilians and combatants. And in fact, in what happened, civilians are paying a heavy price. Humanitarian law is not respected at all. This is a humanitarian crisis that is created by the siege, a political will. There are two million civilians who are dying slowly. We are dealing with war crimes and crimes against humanity on a daily basis. We are in a probable dynamic of genocide, if I use the terms of the United Nations, we really have to act so that things change.

What is the situation in the area where this bombing took place?

You have nearly 40,000 people in this territory. These are populations that have been displaced several times. 90% of the population of Gaza has been displaced. These are people who live on the ground, in tents, people who have nothing left and who are at the end of their rope. It is not surprising that we see an epidemic of malnutrition, there are respiratory and digestive infections. Our teams are struggling and we cannot cover all the needs. The humanitarians are powerless. We are in a famine of an intentional nature. You have a lot of psychological problems. Civilians are zombies, they constantly hear the noise of drones, of bombings, they know that they can die at any moment. These are conditions of monstrous inhumanity.

And how do you, the humanitarians, manage to work in these conditions?

We manage to work but in difficult conditions, we bring in equipment that is stored either in Egypt or in Israel. Our teams take risks every day to provide primary health care, vaccinations. These are extremely dangerous areas where nearly 300 humanitarian workers have been killed in the last 11 months. We need a massive ceasefire, we need aid to flood this territory, we need to enforce the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. There are a whole bunch of elements that could alleviate the suffering of civilians but unfortunately the international community is missing out on this human tragedy.