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.
