From Twin Cities Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine:
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — We, healthcare professionals and students from across the Twin Cities metro area, have formed a local chapter of the national Healthcare Workers for Palestine collective. Twin Cities Healthcare Workers for Palestine’s inaugural event will be a vigil honoring the hundreds of healthcare workers killed in Israel’s genocidal bombardment of Gaza.
According to the United Nations, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have killed at least 337 healthcare workers in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Only 15 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain even partially functional. Patients in Gaza suffer from lack of access to lifesaving specialized care such as cancer treatment as well as basic medical supplies, clean water, food, and sanitation. The IOF continues to target healthcare workers, patients, hospitals, and ambulances, and continues to hold medical personnel hostage, including the doctors and nurses arrested at Al Shifa Hospital in November. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization warns that disease could kill more people in Gaza than Israel’s bombings themselves.
In the face of these crimes against humanity, we, as healthcare workers in the U.S., feel morally compelled to speak out, bear witness, and honor our colleagues in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. Palestinian healthcare workers in Gaza have displayed the highest commitment to their ethical obligations as healers, working under the most dire of conditions and sacrificing their own lives and safety to care for their patients. We stand in unequivocal solidarity with our fellow medical professionals in Palestine and seek to amplify their voices to draw attention to the ongoing Israeli genocide against Palestinians, as well as our own government’s collaboration with Israel’s crimes.
We welcome all healthcare workers and people of conscience to join us for our vigil honoring the at least 337 martyred medical professionals in Gaza on Friday, January 26, 2024 at 4:00 pm. We will gather at the corner of 8th St and Chicago Ave (730 S 8th St, Minneapolis, MN 55415). Healthcare workers in attendance are encouraged to wear scrubs, white coats, stethoscopes, and other symbols of our professions.
This event is co-sponsored by: Freedom Street Health Medics, Jewish Voices for Peace Twin Cities, Minnesota Anti-War Committee, Students for Justice in Palestine at University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America, and White Coats for Black Lives.
