Healthcare workers demand an end to the siege on Gaza

In what is considered a war crime by the United Nations, Israel is enacting collective punishment on the people of Gaza. Food, water, and fuel have been cut off, as bombs destroy critical infrastructure and humanitarian refuge corridors. In efforts to raise alarms about the immense humanitarian crisis in Gaza, a grassroots collection of unionized nurses, doctors, and Palestine liberation activists in the U.S. have collaborated on the following statement and petition.

The goal of the statement is not only to publicly state our demands, but also to organize resistance to what the US government is supporting. As of this publication, over one hundred healthcare workers have signed on. Signers represent a broad group of health workers including registered nurses, nurse educators, medical doctors, paramedics, medical students, medical researchers, and more. The initiators of the statement plan to reach out to signers to discuss possible next steps.

End the siege on the Gaza Strip!

As healthcare workers, we mourn the loss of life everywhere, regardless of nationality.

The Gaza Strip has had a healthcare system near the breaking point for decades. Home to millions of displaced Palestinians – half of whom are under 18 years old, the UN has long recognized the humanitarian crisis stemming from Israel’s apartheid system. The siege and bombings have pushed a dire situation into devastating horror, with Israel cutting off electricity, water, and fuel to the Gaza Strip. With air strikes to civilian areas, and ambulances hit with bombs, injured are being brought to overcrowded hospitals in cars.

According to eyewitness accounts provided by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), “Two of the hospitals MSF supports, Al Awda and Indonesian hospitals, have both sustained damage in airstrikes, while MSF’s own clinic sustained damage in an explosion on Monday.” Already under severe pressure with the number of injured, hospitals are now being told to evacuate all of their patients, pending a military invasion.

“I get calls from our people there in Gaza constantly, patients who have kidney problems, in need for kidney dialysis, who could die in two, three days because they cannot get it, patients with cancer who lost treatment, and other sick people who are in very deep situation,” Palestinian physician Mustafa Barghouti told a reporter this week.

As Noi Katsman said of his brother Hayim, who was killed in the Hamas attack, “Most important for me and also for my brother is that his death won’t be used to kill innocent people. And sadly, my government is using cynically the death of people to just kill… I don’t want anything to happen to people in Gaza like it happened to my brother, and I’m sure he wouldn’t have either.”

We, the undersigned healthcare workers, demand that the bombing and collective punishment of Palestinians end, that the siege be lifted immediately, an end to the illegal occupation, and an end of US military aid to Israel.

Click here to sign the petition

Name, Job title, City, Organization/Union

Karen Kortsch, Registered Nurse, Lake Bluff, National Nurses United

Winnie Lin, Pediatrician, Chicago, IL

Sean Petty, RN, Registered Nurse, Bronx, NY, NYSNA

John Hieronymus, Registered Nurse, Chicago, CNA/NNOC NNU Shift Change Caucus

Nida Hasan, Leader, Chicago, United Working Families

Dan Hurowitz, Registered Nurse, Chicago, IL

Victoria Gutiérrez, RN, Madison, WI, SEIU WI

Sam Friedman, Research Professor, New York

Nancy Alverio, RN-CN2, Chicago, CNA/NNU NNOC

Elizabeth Lalasz, registered nurse, union steward, Chicago, IL, California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC)

Anonymous, PhD Candidate in Epidemiology, New York City

Glenn Allen, PharmD, BCPS, Chicago

Linda Green, Physician, Mount Rainier, Progressive Labor Party

Anne Krantz, M.D., Chicago

Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle, Global Patient Services Director / Medical Interpreter, Chicago, N/A

Cliff Willmeng, Registered Nurse, Emergency Department, Minneapolis, I am in Minnesota Nurses Association but endorsing as individual

Hoda Ghamlouche, Director, International Patient Services, Chicago

Wasim Alghoul, Sr. International Coordinator, Chicago, Lurie Children’s Hospital

Erin Raether, RN, Community Health Registered Nurse, Chicago, IL

Kellen Gildersleeve, RN, Austin, National Nurses United

Holly Hagan, Professor, School of Global Public Health, New York, New York University

Dennis Kosuth, RN, Chicago, NNU and CTU

Diane hirsch garcia, Retired lvn, Los angeles, California nurses association

Rupal Yu, MD MPH, Family Physician, Chapel Hill, NC

Andrew Yu, Respiratory Therapist, Carrboro

Jesse Soodalter, MD, Atlanta, Grady Memorial Hospital

Dr Howard Ehrman, Retired Chicago Assistant Health Commissioner & UIC Assistant Professor, Chicago, People’s Response Network (PRN)

Lisa Landry, RN, Austin TX, NNU

Consuelo Vargas, RN, Chicago, NNU

Marcie Cohen, MD, Boston, Boston Health Csre for the Homeless Program

Gordon Schiff, Associate Professor, Boston, Harvard Medical School

Mark Eisenberg MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, cambridge

Jules Gelbort, RN, Chicago, IL

Nathaniel S, RN, Los Angeles, California Nurses Association

Aashutosha Lele, Medical scribe, Minneapolis

Karyn Pomerantz, Retired public health educator/librarian, College Park, Progressive Labor Party, plp.org

Daniela Kantorova, PsyD, Program Director, Oakland, CA, The Wright Institute

Mihir Chaudhary, Critical Care Fellow, Chicago, University of Chicago

Claire Valderama-Wallace, PhD, MPH, RN, Associate Professor, California State University, East Bay

Anita Barrows, Psychologist, Berkeley CA, Jewish Voice for Peace

Ryan Veseling, Firefighter/Paramedic, Waukegan, IAFF Local 473

Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot, Research Scientist, New York City,

Sherin moussa, Access manger of Globale patients services, Chicago, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

Anonymous, Registered Nurse, Chicago, NNOC

Tanya Zakrison, Trauma Surgeon & Professor of Surgery, Chicago, University of Chicago

Janette Corcelius, Saint Paul

Daisy Goodman, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Lebanon, NH, Dartmouth Health

Alicia Butler, RN, Queens, NYSNA

Andrea Lyman, MD, MSc, MS, Health Department consultant, New York

Rayan Karim, IT Professional, Port Jefferson

Janis Yue, Assistant Professor of Clinical Occupational Therapy, Los Angeles, CA

Anti Police-Terror Project (organizational endorsement), Mental Health First (MH First program), Oakland, Contact: Daniela Kantorova, PsyD

Anicia Santos, Technology Advisor for Epidemic Preparedness, Los Angeles, Public Health Awakened

Dr. Nancy C. Arvold, psychologist/professor/therapist, Richmond, PsySR, SWASC, CIIS

Emily Birnbaum, Family Nurse Practitioner, Oakland, Outpatient Internal Medicine office

Lara Jirmanus, Primary Care Physician and Clinical Instructor in Medicine, Part-Time, Boston, Harvard Medical School (identification purposes only)

Michelle Farber, Nurse-midwife, Seattle,

Andrea Jones Klein, Public Health Professional, Rochester, MN, MAPE

Courtney Hanlon, MD MS, Physician, Los Angeles, LA General Medical Center

Michael Lyon, Biomedical Technician (retired), Berkeley CA, Progressive Labor Party

Christine Ebert-Santos MD, Pediatrician, Frisco colorado usa, Ebert Family Clinic

Louis E. Weissert, Milwaukee, WI, Medical College of Wisconsin

Phi Le, Hospitalist, Sleepy Hollow, NY

Ali Swanson, RN, Hanover, NH, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

Nazneen Zaheer, Dr, Lombard, Neonatology

Sundus Awan, Pharmacist, Nashville, N/a

Geraldine Gorman RN PhD, Nursing professor, Chicago, UICUF

Alan Meyers, MD,MPH, retired pediatrician, Cambridge MA

Danielle Saleem, Registered Nurse, Chicago, Rush University Medical Center

Karen Kessler, Registered Nurse Educator, Retired, New Haven

Ailee Santoyo, PCT, Chicago, Rush University

Rachel N. Valentino, Student Registered Nurse Anesthetist, Chicago, IL, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science

Ashley Saleem, Physician, Chicago, Loyola

Femmily Robison, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, Chicago

Ellen Isaacs, MD, New York

Eduardo Ornelas, CRNA, Chicago

Sahar Nouredini, PhD, RN, CNS, Associate Professor, Hayward, California State University East Bay

Simon Piller, MD, Chicago, Illinois

Yonah EtShalom, MSN, MPH, FNP

Rashid Kysia, MD, MPH, Physician, Chicago, Dept. of Emergency Medicine, Cook County Hospital

Yazen Abukhaled, Registered Nurse, Chicago

Carmen Alcalá, MD, Emergency Medicine Physician, Chicago

Rayyan Kadi, MD, Emergency Physician

Jana Gottfried, social worker, Los Angeles, mental health

Linval DePass, Executive Director, Nonclinical Safety, Durect Corporation, Palo Alto, CA, USA, JVP

Erika Gimbel, therapist MFT, Oakland, CA, Provider with City & County of San Francisco

Matthew Musselman, Family Physician, Redwood City,  CA, Jewish Voice for Peace

Kimberly Murray, MSN, WHNP, Brooklyn

Sandy Eaton, RN, Staff Nurse (retired), Quincy, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Nurses Association

Maren abromowitz, Nurse practitioner, Los Angeles

Catherine DeLorey, RN, DrPH, Director, Boston, Women’s Health Institute

Ameer Sharifzadeh, MD FAAEM, Emergency Medicine Physician, Chicago, IL

Alea Dulapa, Radiation therapist, Livonia, Henry Ford Health

Thomas Thomson, Nurse Practitioner, Seattle, VA

AJ Pluss, Physical Therapist, Oakland, CA

Valerie Gabriel, Registered Nurse, Chicago, IL, RUMC

Rosemary Kean, RN, MS Retired, Boston, MA, Mass Nurses Association

Emma Kate Sellers, Health Education Fellow, Public Health Professional

Martha Karchere, Retired Physicain, Boston, Physicians for a National Health Program

Mahfuz Majumdar, Emergency Medicine/ Critical Care Physician, Los Angeles, Long Beach Memorial/LA County

zehara levin, LCSW, Oakland, California

Addie Kogab, Psychotherapist, Oakland, Self-employed

Sheila Bharat, Social Worker/Therapist, San Francisco

Anonymous, Registered Nurse, Chicago, Northwestern Medicine

Emily Grullon, Occupational Therapist, Los Angeles

justine

Anna, Psychotherapist and social worker, Northampton, Massachusetts

Ellen Nathanson, Nurse Practitioner, Chicago, IL, Howard Brown Workers United

Indy Mother and artist, Yucca Valley CA

Samar Post Jamali, Nurse Practitioner, Portland, MAINE, University of Southern Maine

John Senesy, PARAMEDIC, SF, IAFF

Linda Ray, Retired RN, San Francisco, SEIU 1021

Leland, Nurse Manager, Philadelphia

Afsaneh talai, Physician, Dallas, UT southwestern

Bree Ferrin, Family Nurse Practitioner, Brooklyn
Anonymous, Physical Therapist, Los Angeles

Pamela Fleming, Physician Assistant, Big Rapids, Corewell Health

Liz Dumler, RN, MSN, Registered Nurse, Chicago, IL, NNU, UChicago Medicine

Sophie Howard, Kingston, NY

Chloe, psychotherapist, Northampton, Advance Psychotherapy Practice

Juliana Morris, MD, Boston, Harvard Medical School

Haley C, Nurse Practitioner, Los Angeles

Kate Kozeniewski, Nurse Practitioner, Chicago IL

Raia, Therapist, Northampton, CAMFT

Elinore Kaufman, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania

Ynez, NP, LA,

Eric Reinhart, Resident Physician and Political Anthropologist of Public Health, Chicago, Illinois USA

Lindsey Martin, Psychotherapist, Chicago, IL

Carolyn Kraus-Koziol, MD, Physician, Palo Alto

Malika Baig, MAd, Los Angeles

Lauren Seto, Nurse, San Francisco, San Francisco General Hospital

Zee Marcus, Nurse Midwife, Philadelphia, Non-profit birth center

Sharmain Siddiqui, Medical Student, Chicago

Renee Levant, Psychotherapist, Amherst

Jonathon Haven, Board Certified Behavior Analyst, Chicago,
Sachin Kapur, Neurology MD, Orland Park, Northwestern Medical Group

Kate, Carson, Los Angeles, California Acupuncture Board

Giulia Sambuca, registered nurse, Oakland

Madeleine W., Registered Nurse, San Francisco, CNA

Patrisha Kral, RN, San Francisco, CA, USA, SF General Hospital

Serena Deverich, MSN, NP, Oakland, San Mateo county public health

Jorge Aceves, M.D.

Naeemeh, RN, SF

Omar Mirza DO, Psychiatrist, New York

Anonymous, Mental health social worker, Brisbane, Metro south Queensland health Australia

anonymous, Senior Nurse Clinician RN, NP student, Nyc, Nyu

Geleni Fontaine, Registered Nurse, Licensed Acupuncturist, Newburgh, New York

Alina Fox, LCSW

Aya Sato, Nurse, Melbourne, AHPRA

Kasey Copeland, PCA, Minneapolis, SEIU

Farrah Malik, MD, Milwaukee

Featured image credit: Wikimedia Commons; modified by Tempest.