The impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Palestinian health care professionals working in Occupied Palestinian Territory

ABSTRACT

The past few years have seen a dramatic worldwide rise in limits on, attacks on, and even killings of health care workers trying to provide health care to injured individuals engaged in conflict. In addition, and most tragically, health care workers are increasingly targeted for even providing preventive services such as vaccinations or, in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, just because they are health care professionals. This chapter, focusing on one conflict, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, will review limits placed and attacks on Palestinian health professionals that have occurred since 2000 from two different perspectives. The literature we reference includes third-sector reports, both local and international, United Nations perspectives, and Israeli and Palestinian governmental responses to these limits and attacks on Palestinian health care professionals. In this chapter we detail Israeli limits, including attacks on health care professionals, which, following the Geneva Conventions, should not be occurring. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)