A Norwegian specialist physician who worked for more than a decade in the Gaza Strip as a volunteer, said the blatant bombing of its hospitals by Israel was “a bleeding human rights issue”.
Dr Mads Gilbert was speaking in Gqeberha on Sunday.
Gilbert has been in SA holding public talks on the “inhumane man-made healthcare disaster” in Gaza.
On invitation from independent media organisation Salaamedia, after stops in Tshwane and Durban, Gilbert spoke at Nelson Mandela University’s medical school in Missionvale, where he made an urgent call to the SA medical community to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian medical fraternity.
His talk in Gqeberha, hosted by the SA Medical Association (Sama) Eastern Province, highlighted the unlawful and inhumane attacks on medical facilities in Gaza.
“The occupation and the killing and destruction in Gaza is the most important issue for humankind right now,” the specialist physician in anaesthesiology and emergency medicine and professor at Arctic University in Norway said.
According to the UN, about 11,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, with more than one million displaced since Israel commenced its ground invasion in October.
It follows Hamas’s brutal attack on innocent Israeli civilians and kidnapping of about 240 hostages, including babies and children, on October 7.
However, Gilbert said the blatant bombing of hospitals in Gaza was “a bleeding human rights issue”.
“It is contrary to all humanity, humanitarian laws, and international regulations during armed conflict, and contrary to what we all believe in, which is to take care of each other, even if we are enemies.
“You simply don’t bomb hospitals; you don’t kill 6,000 children and declare it self-defence.
“You don’t kill doctors and nurses and smash X-ray equipment, or starve people, and yet that is being done to the Palestinian people.”
Gilbert, who worked at the al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip, said he would speak to anyone willing to listen.
“My dear colleagues in the SA Medical Association wanted to listen; I talk to anyone who wants to listen.
“This is such an important issue for the future of our children and grandchildren.
“If this prevails, we are entering into a new dark era of racist colonialism.
“If there is anywhere in the world where racist colonialism is well-known, it is right here in SA.”
Having been active in developing emergency health systems in Northern Norway and working in psychosocial crisis management at a local community level, co-founding the Norwegian Aid Committee (Norwac) in 1981, he said solidarity was the best expression of support.
His message comes after he received a video from doctors at Gaza’s largest hospital showing the chaos and horrific situation medical staff and patients are facing.
“The two most important words in my language are love and solidarity,” he said.
“Solidarity is a tool we can all use during dire times,” he said.
“We need to use solidarity as a weapon, much like we did during the anti-apartheid struggle here.
“Now you have the boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
“If we can be active, every one of us, take part in some organised activity and do something every day, we will have the same victory in the end as SA.
“It takes activism — lifting your butt from the couch and doing something.”
On-air personality at Salaamedia in Johannesburg, Inayet Wadee, said his organisation with the support from the Islamic Medical Association of SA and other organisations, decided to bring the renowned humanitarian activist to SA to highlight the Israel-Hamas war.
“I had the opportunity of interviewing Dr Gilbert while he was in Egypt.
“That is when Salaamedia decided to invite him to SA since he couldn’t get through the [Nile River] crossing or get into Gaza, and he accepted,” Wadee said.
“It’s amazing when one looks at the people who have shared the platform with him.
“This includes former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils, chief Mandla Mandela and ANC deputy SG Nomvula Mokonyane, among others on the tour.
“It shows the solidarity of the various movements and political affiliations with the cause of Gaza.
“It is a call for humanity, justice and anti-oppression.”
Former Sama Eastern Province chair Dr Farhaad Khan said: “It does not matter what political party you belong to or what nationality you are, if you need help, doctors should be able to provide that help.
“We should be able to provide it to anyone irrespective of their background. We should be neutral in this.”
HeraldLIVE