This report, submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health on 10 January 2025, outlines a two-pronged framework of Israel’s Genocide Enablement Apparatus, which has accelerated the annihilation of Palestinian people since October 2023 through the Israeli-led destruction of the healthcare sector in Gaza, and the simultaneous repression of healthcare workers implemented by American, British and Canadian (hereafter ‘Western’) medical and cultural institutions. Additionally, this report establishes a medical denition of genocide, built from lessons from the ongoing genocide in Gaza, to enable and support the role of healthcare workers both as key frontline protectors of the right to health and life, and as meaningful actors in the early prevention of genocide.
The report highlights the urgent need for a medical denition of genocide to enable timely interventions by healthcare workers, particularly those who witness the systematic destruction of human lives in real time. Current legal frameworks, often slowed by political considerations and the prolonged process of establishing intent, delay critical action. A medical framework, rooted in observable impacts on health and life, empowers healthcare workers to act swiftly, preventing escalation and saving lives. Without a medical denition, healthcare workers are left without the tools to act decisively in the face of unfolding atrocities, hindering efforts to prevent further death and destruction.
