Advocacy Letters

OPEN LETTER: Australian Doctors Call for the Immediate Entry of Humanitarian Aid into Gaza, and Protection of Healthcare Workers and Hospitals.

       Table of Signatories

Saturday 31st May 2025

 

Dear Prime Minister Albanese and Senator Wong,  

 

As members of the Australian medical community, we are appalled by the catastrophic humanitarian and public health crisis in Gaza. Since October 2023, the international medical community have repeatedly raised concerns about the indiscriminate and disproportionate brutality of Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people and warned of the inevitable consequences of inaction. (1-6)

We must act now to end the violence or face the annihilation of the Palestinian population in Gaza.

The 17-year blockade, in the context of Israel’s 57-year occupation, created broad dependence on external aid and heavily restricted access of essential resources to Gaza (6, 7). For 19 months we have witnessed the Israeli government exploit this external reliance as a tool of collective punishment and a ‘calculated push to drive Gaza to the brink of collapse.’ (3)

The systematic dismantling of Gaza’s health care system (including the deliberate targeting of hospitals, healthcare workers, and patients), (4-6, 8) coupled with the complete blockade of all humanitarian aid entering Gaza since 2 March 2025, (9) add to the growing body of evidence that Israel is committing a genocide as part of its wider colonial agenda. (3, 10) On the 5th May 2025, our concerns were realised as the Israeli government officially announced its intention to intensify its offensive, forcibly transfer civilians and indefinitely ‘occupy the entire Gaza strip.’ (3)

At the time of writing there were no fully functional hospitals remaining in Gaza, and those remaining faced continued Israeli bombardment. (4, 11) As more than 1400 healthcare workers have been killed, and at least 384 healthcare workers have been unlawfully detained, the provision of all essential services is severely restricted. (12, 13) An estimated 64,000 people have been killed as a result of traumatic injury, though this figure is known to be under-reported by at least 41%. (14) Limited access to clean water, adequate shelter and destruction of sanitary services has compounded the public health crisis – seeing unprecedented increases in infections and vaccine-preventable deaths.(15, 16) As the entire population is subjected to a complete blockade of humanitarian aid, half a million people (one in five) face starvation and 57 deaths related to malnutrition have already been reported. (17, 18) These deaths are entirely preventable, and will continue without meaningful and united international pressure on Israel.

As Australian medical doctors, we are bound by our ethical obligation to protect life and are unequivocal in our stance: no population should be denied access to healthcare, humanitarian aid, or the means to survive.

We urgently call on the Australian government to comply with its obligations:

  • Impose immediate and targeted sanctions on Israel — including the suspension of all military cooperation, economic partnerships, and technology transfers.
  • Publicly condemn the targeting of healthcare workers and facilities, and complete blockade of humanitarian aid as violations of international law.
  • Demand the immediate and unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including medical supplies, fuel, and food.
  • Demand the immediate release of healthcare workers, detained by Israel without charge; and
  • Continue to add Australia’s support for a permanent and sustained ceasefire

 

We stand with our Palestinian colleagues who continue to provide medical care under unimaginable circumstances. Their courage must not be met with silence.

 

References

  1. World must act with urgency to save Palestinians in Gaza [press release]. 7 Apr 2025
  2. With stoppage of humanitarian aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip, UNICEF warns of severe consequences for children and families in desperate need [press release]. 3 Mar 2025.
  3. End unfolding genocide or watch it end life in Gaza: UN experts say States face defining choice [press release]. United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), 7/5/25.
  4. ‘Hospitals have become battlegrounds’: Gaza’s health system on brink of collapse: United Nations; 2025 [updated 3/1/25]. Available from: https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/01/1158741.
  1. Gaza: life in a death trap. 2024 19 Dec.
  2. Thematic Report: Indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks during the conflict in Gaza (October – December 2023). United Nations; 2024 19 June.
  3. Suffocation and Isolation: 17 Years of Israeli Blockade on Gaza.
  4. UNFPA statement on the dire situation of hospitals in Gaza [press release]. 11 November 2024.
  5. People in Gaza starving, sick and dying as aid blockade continues [press release]. World Health Organisation (WHO), 12/05/2025.
  6. Amnesty International investigation concludes Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Amnesty International. 2024.
  7. Israel bombs two Gaza hospitals, killing at least 18 Palestinians. Al Jazeera English. 13/05/2025.
  8. Reported impact snapshot | Gaza Strip (7 May 2025). 2025.
  9. Update #9 Detained HCWs in Palestine – February 25, 2025. 2025.
  10. Jamaluddine Z, Abukmail H, Aly S, Campbell OMR, Checchi F. Traumatic injury mortality in the Gaza Strip from Oct 7, 2023, to June 30, 2024: a capture-recapture analysis. Lancet. 2025;405(10477):469-77.
  11. Public Health Situation Analysis (PHSA): Hostilities in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). 2025 25/02/2025.
  12. 66% of the total structures in the Gaza Strip have sustained damage, UNOSAT’s analysis reveals [press release]. 30 September 2024.
  13. Classification TIFSP. Gaza Strip: Acute Food Insecurity Situation for 1 April – 10 May 2025 and Projection for 11 May – 30 September 2025. 2025 12 May.
  14. 2025 Global Report on Food Crises, Joint Analysis for Better Decisions. 2025 16 May

ANZDFP Request to Collages

Tuesday 4th May 2025

 

Dear College President,

 

We are writing to you on behalf of Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Doctors for Palestine, a group comprising over 1,200 medical professionals, to request your urgent action regarding the ongoing genocide and associated dire humanitarian situation in Palestine, the ongoing unlawful detention of Palestinian healthcare workers by Israel, and to raise our concerns regarding the college’s commitment to health justice advocacy regarding these matters.

 

As discussed in our previous letter, UN committees1 and NGOs such as Amnesty International2 have declared Israel’s actions in Gaza these past 16 months to be consistent with genocide. While a temporary ceasefire provided some much needed respite for the population in Gaza, it was nowhere near enough. Throughout this period, Israel has continued to kill and forcefully displace Palestinian civilians in both Gaza and West Bank, including children.3 At least 1.9 million people have been displaced, according to the UN, with little access to proper shelter. Seven babies in Gaza have died from hypothermia in just the last two weeks. According to Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) this is ‘the direct result of Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid. Newborns should not be dying of hypothermia in Gaza. This is not a tragedy of nature but a man-made crisis… If adequate aid, including shelter supplies, were allowed to reach civilians and hospitals, these deaths would be entirely preventable.”4

On top of these dire conditions, Israel has once again made the decision to block the entry of all humanitarian aid into Gaza.5 This collective punishment is a crime against humanity6 , consistent with the same genocidal practices Israel was enacting on the population of Gaza previously- a direct breach of the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 26 January 2024.7 This decision, on top of the fact that almost all infrastructure, including health infrastructure and services, has been destroyed or only partially functioning, is absolutely catastrophic, unacceptable, and illegal. As Amnesty Australia has stated: ‘Amnesty Australia urges the international community and the Australian Government to take immediate action to demand the unrestricted delivery and access of humanitarian aid into Gaza and put pressure on Israel to end its genocide and brutal occupation.8 This is a call we also echo and direct towards the international medical community, who should understand the catastrophic significance of this decision.

Israel is still breaching the principle of medical neutrality under International Humanitarian Law (IHL). As of 25 February, as per Healthcare Workers Watch: 1,200 Palestinian Healthcare workers have been killed by Israeli Forces since October 2023, and 384 Palestinian Healthcare workers remain unlawfully detained (held hostage) by Israeli forces. 4 healthcare workers have been reported killed in Israeli detention, with their bodies still held, and 24 are missing.9 In February 2025, Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) released a position paper, based on structured interviews by PHRI lawyers who were finally able to visit over 24 medical workers in military and prison detention facilities. The testimonies are chilling. There were reports of torture, and the deliberate starvation of many of the detained healthcare workers. Some even witnessing the deaths of their fellow healthcare detainees. PHRI writes: ‘we urge everyone, but especially our fellow doctors and medical personnel, regardless of nationality, to unite in calling for the release of our colleagues. We call on you to raise awareness of their plight and join the worldwide campaign for their release.’10

 

We sincerely believe that the upholding of the medical ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice require active practice, and are essential for the safe practice of our profession. We believe they must be upheld in a consistent manner by all practitioners. Israeli forces are breaching all four of these core principles on a daily basis in Palestinian territories. This will continue to happen as long as the illegal occupation is maintained, 12 and the international community stagnates on taking action against genocide.

 

The lack of mobilisation from major medical institutions, governing bodies, and colleges to demonstrate leadership in our field regarding such clear breaches of human rights, and these ethical principles, is concerning, inconsistent, and confusing. Further, it sets a chilling precedent for the future of our profession, and a poor example to doctors in training- especially as lecturers and medical students are now being censored by their own universities from putting these principles into practice, and advocating for health justice and an end to genocide and harm.

 

We hence call on the college to demonstrate with absolute clarity that these ethical principles are not optional, but mandatory. The tragic consequences of failure to do so are the daily preventable, and unnecessary, deaths of civilians; the majority of whom are children. This is unacceptable. As medical practitioners of conscience, we do not accept this, and we do not accept the excuses those in medical leadership have been making since October 2023 for their reticence and silence in the face of such preventable harm. 

 

It is thus that we request the college release a public statement demanding:

1) The immediate and unimpeded delivery of life-saving and critical humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza,

2) An end to Israel’s genocide and illegal occupation of Palestinians in all Palestinian territories, and

3) The immediate release of all held hostage by both parties. We specifically ask our health community advocate for our Palestinian medical colleagues, who are being arbitrarily detained by Israel without charge or trial in illegal and inhumane conditions; a direct breach of the principle of medical neutrality under IHL.

4) Publicly condemn the consistent breaches of the principle of medical neutrality by the Israeli forces in all Palestinian territories  

 

We look forward to the college’s leadership on these urgent matters of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. 

 

Kind Regards,

Dr Helen Stamopoulos MBBS (CICM trainee), Dr Eleni Hatzis MBBS, FRACP (Clinical Haematology), Dr Sarah Abdo MBBS, BSc, FRACP, Dr Shumaila Panhwar, BBNSc, BMBS, FRACGP, Dr Yassmin Khadra MD FRACP AFRACMA GChPOM CHIA, Dr Safiyyah Abbas MBBS, MPHTM, FAFRM, FRACP, Dr Elizabeth Armari BMedSc MRMed MWomHMed MBBS, Dr Noor Aljassim, BSc/MBBS(Hons) 

 

References:

  1. UN Special Committee finds Israel’s warfare methods in Gaza consistent with genocide, including use of starvation as a weapon of war. UN, (14/11/2024) https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/11/un-special-committee-finds-israels-warfare-methods-gaza-consistent-genocide
  2. Amnesty International investigation concludes Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Amnesty International, (05/12/2024) https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/amnesty-international-concludes-israel-is-committing-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/
  3. How is Israel violating the Gaza ceasefire. Al Jazeera, (27/02/2025) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/27/how-is-israel-violating-the-gaza-ceasefire-deal
  4. Seven babies die of hypothermia in Gaza. CNN, (26/02/2025) https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/25/middleeast/israel-gaza-six-palestinian-babies-die-hypothermia-intl-latam/index.html
  5. Arab nations, rights groups condemn Israel’s decision to block Gaza aid. Al Jazeera (03/03/2025) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/3/arab-nations-rights-groups-condemn-israels-decision-to-block-gaza-aid
  6. The denial of humanitarian assistance as a crime under international law. ICRC, (December 1999) https://international-review.icrc.org/sites/default/files/S1560775500059794a.pdf
  7. Israel defying ICJ ruling to prevent genocide by failing to allow adequate humanitarian aid to reach Gaza. Amnesty International, (26/02/2024) https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/02/israel-defying-icj-ruling-to-prevent-genocide-by-failing-to-allow-adequate-humanitarian-aid-to-reach-gaza/
  8. Israel’s blockade of aid into Gaza is a crime against humanity and violation of international law. Amnesty International, (03/03/2025) https://www.amnesty.org.au/israels-blockage-of-aid-into-gaza-is-a-crime-against-humanity-and-violation-of-international-law/
  9. Healthcare Workers Watch, (25/02/2025) https://healthcareworkerswatch.org/
  10. Unlawfully detained, tortured, and starved, Physicians for Human Rights Israel (Feb 2025), https://www.phr.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/6265_DetentionReport_Eng.pdf
  11. World Court Finds Israel Responsible for Apartheid. Human Rights Watch, (19/07/2024) https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/19/world-court-finds-israel-responsible-apartheid

 

Additional:

WMA Resolution on the Protection of Healthcare in Israel and Gaza. WMA (October 2024) https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-resolution-on-the-protection-of-healthcare-in-israel-and-gaza/#:~:text=The%20WMA%20Council%20and%20its,safe%20release%20of%20all%20hostages.

Letter to AMA requesting they put out an urgent statement on WMA Resolution

Wednesday 30th October 2024

 

ATTN: AMA President, Dr Danielle McMullen; Policy & Advocacy Team

Dear Dr McMullen,

 

We are pleased by the most recent World Medical Association (WMA) Resolution adopted by the 75th WMA General Assembly in Helsinki last week, on the protection of healthcare in Israel and Gaza. We thank you, and the team at the AMA, for your advocacy and leadership in this regard, as well as your ongoing work with the Australian government on the need to preserve the principle of medical neutrality.

We request that the AMA urgently work to release a statement of their endorsement of this resolution. While we appreciate from our correspondence with yourself, and from the wording of the resolution itself, that AMA support is implied, unfortunately many healthcare workers are failing to interpret it in that way as it is not overtly clear.

We believe an AMA statement of support for this resolution would empower and protect all doctors in Australia who wish to advocate within the scope of the resolution. Given the urgency of the situation in Palestine and Lebanon, we hope you and your team at the AMA will place priority on this request.

 

Kind Regards,

Dr Helen Stamopoulos, for ANZDFP

Letter to Senator Wong regarding the UN General Assembly's resolution

Saturday 28th September 2024

 

Dear Senator Wong, 

 

We are writing to you on behalf of the Australian and New Zealand Doctors for Palestine (ANZDFP) to express our profound disappointment regarding Australia’s recent abstention from the UN General Assembly resolution ES-10/23, which addressed critical issues regarding the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine. 

Your explanation for this abstention fails to acknowledge the severity of the situation on the ground and the urgent need for Australia to take a principled stand. If Australia truly seeks peace, it must confront the realities of Israel’s actions, which are increasingly recognized as violations of international law, grave human rights violations, and an apartheid system. As an advocate for human rights and humanitarian values, Australia has a responsibility to act decisively. To this end, we urge you to advocate for the following actions: 

  1. Impose Sanctions on Israel: Australia must take all necessary measures to hold Israel accountable, including the imposition of targeted sanctions not just on extremist settlers but on state practices that violate international law. 
  1. Cease Arms Exports: We call for an immediate halt to the export of F35 weapon parts and divestment from all companies, such as Elbit, that facilitate these violations. We note you have repeatedly stated that Australia does not export weapons to Israel, however the aforementioned exchanges cannot be ignored. The export of military technology to an apartheid state actively involved in human rights abuses and under investigation for the crime of genocide is indefensible.  
  1. Increase Humanitarian Aid and Conduct Immediate Medical Evacuations: Australia must further increase its humanitarian aid funding to UNRWA to provide essential support to those in need. Furthermore, we demand immediate medical evacuations for injured and medically unwell Palestinians and Lebanese citizens, facilitating their treatment in Australia. We are a privileged country with the ability to provide high level care to the injured, traumatised and medically unwell. 
  1. Medicare for Palestinian Refugees: It is distressing that Medicare has not yet been extended to Palestinian refugees in Australia. We have been closely monitoring the situation as we work closely with refugee organisations providing healthcare and our organisation itself is made of many doctors who are providing care for Palestinian refugees pro bono. We urge you to address this matter with your colleagues as a priority, ensuring that all individuals in need have access to essential healthcare services including access to general practitioners, who are the principal care providers.  

The ongoing crisis demands urgent action, not only to uphold Australia’s commitment to international law and human rights but to genuinely support the pursuit of peace in the region. We stand ready to collaborate and offer our expertise to ensure that the humanitarian needs of those affected are met. We are disappointed in your previous responses to us and inability to attend our scheduled meeting. However, we hope you are able to attend to the pressing matters highlighted above and are open to further meetings. We look forward to your prompt action and commitment to supporting justice and peace. 

 

Sincerely,

Jennifer Martinez

On behalf of Australian and New Zealand Doctors for Palestine (ANZDFP)

 

Urgent Call for Action: Doctors say “Sanction Israel and Stop Weapons Transfers”

Tuesday 28th May 2024

 

Dear Prime Minister Albanese and Senator Wong,

 

I am writing to you as a member of the Australian and New Zealand Doctors for Palestine, a collective of over 1,000 Australian registered doctors deeply concerned about the recent escalation of violence in Palestine. 

We are writing in response to the devastating attacks on Rafah, which resulted in the tragic loss of civilian lives, including innocent children who were burned alive. These horrific incidents are part of a broader pattern of violence and aggression perpetrated by the Israeli government against Palestinian civilians and infrastructure. These barbaric attacks and the manmade humanitarian crisis would have been entirely preventable if Israel did not have the unwavering support of countries like Australia. 

As healthcare workers, we have witnessed the devastating impact of these attacks on the health and well-being of the Palestinian people. Some of our members have witnessed this firsthand having been in Gaza volunteering or working with organisations such as Doctors Without Borders and Global Medical Foundation Australia. They have seen horrifying injuries, witnessed traumatic death and struggled to work within a healthcare system that has been reduced to a barely functioning service. They report large scale civilian casualties, starvation, death from preventable infectious and chronic diseases and inadequate resources to deal with this. Hospitals and healthcare facilities, which should be places of refuge and healing, have become targets of military strikes, putting the lives of patients and medical staff at risk. The deliberate targeting of civilians and healthcare infrastructure is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and must be condemned in the strongest terms. 

We urge the Australian government to take immediate and decisive action to hold Israel accountable for its actions. Specifically, we call on you to:

  1. Use your power to enforce the International Court of Justice’s order for Israel to stop their Rafah offensive  
  2. Impose sanctions on Israel to pressure the government to end its military activity as well as its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories 
  3. Cease all weapons transfers and military cooperation with Israel 
  4. Cease all diplomatic ties to signal Australia’s unequivocal condemnation of Israel’s actions and its continued disregard for international law 
  5. Allow medical evacuations of Gazan civilians to Australia for medical treatment 
  6. Increase Australia’s refugee intake and approve Visas for Gazans wishing to seek safety 
  7. Facilitate the safe entry of humanitarian aid and the safe evacuation of Gazans wishing to leave 

 

It is imperative that Australia, as a signatory to international treaties and conventions, fulfils its obligations to uphold human rights and promote peace and justice in the Middle East. As healthcare professionals, we have a duty of care to speak out against injustice and advocate for the protection of civilian lives, regardless of nationality or ethnicity. We urge you to act swiftly and decisively to address the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories. The lives of countless innocent civilians depend on it.

Thank you for your attention to this critical matter.

 

Sincerely,

Jennifer Martinez

On behalf of Australian and New Zealand Doctors for Palestine

Re: URGENT Gaza UNRWA funding

Sunday 28th January 2024

 

Dear Prime Minister Albanese and Senator Wong,

 

I am writing on behalf of Australian and New Zealand Doctors for Palestine (ANZDFP) in response to Australia’s announcement that it will be suspending all aid to UNRWA due to allegations of UN staff playing a role in the 7th October attack on Israel.

UNRWA’s statement dated 28th January 2024 warns that their lifesaving aid for Gaza may end if countries, like Australia, suspend their funding. 85% of Gaza’s population is internally displaced and UNRWA estimates that they are providing shelter, food and healthcare services for over 1 million Palestinian civilians.

It is morally reprehensible to suspend aid and sanction UNRWA and the entire civilian population of Gaza. This is collective punishment that effectively sentences them all to an earlier death by starvation, dehydration and inability to access lifesaving medical treatment.

We are appalled that this is the stance Australia has chosen to take, particularly after the International Court of Justice announced that it is plausible that Israel is acting in violation of the Genocide Convention and ordered Israel to prevent all acts of genocide. This also places allies of Israel, including Australia, on notice that they are potentially aiding and/or abetting a genocide and also violating the Genocide Convention.

I ask you to look to Ireland as an example of appropriately responding to the UNRWA allegations.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin announced that he has “full confidence in Philippe Lazzarini’s, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, decision to immediately suspend UNRWA staff suspected of participation in the heinous attacks of October 7, to investigate thoroughly and show zero tolerance on terror.” He states that “Ireland has no plans to suspend funding for UNRWA’s vital Gaza work.”

We demand that funding to UNRWA be immediately and unconditionally reinstated. Healthcare workers in Australia have been outraged by Australia’s actions throughout this conflict and we watch in horror as Australia stands on the wrong side of history while tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians are tortured, killed and suffer from the consequences of inadequate humanitarian aid and a practically non-existent healthcare service. It is times like these when privileged countries like Australia should step up and support those in need, instead of contributing to the worsening of a humanitarian catastrophe.

 

Sincerely,

Dr Noor Aljassim

On Behalf of Australian and New Zealand Doctors for Palestine

Australia & Aotearoa New Zealand Doctors for Palestine (ANZDFP) works for an Australian policy that supports Palestinian human rights, justice, and equality.

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