June 20th, 2024

We, Doctors for Global Health, write with a broken heart, this letter to publicly condemn the

horrific atrocities ongoing in Gaza, which the UN Special Rapporteur has stated that there are

“reasonable grounds” to declare a genocide.¹ As a US based organization, we write to call for

an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of offensive US military aid to Israel. We are a small

private not-for-profit international organization composed of health professionals, artists,

therapists, musicians, educators, parents, survivors of war, and a myriad of other labels. We

were founded in the mountains of El Salvador in 1995, amid the grief and poverty of a post civil-

war society out of a spirit of health internationalism. Since then we have dedicated our time to

accompany communities in Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua,

Peru, Uganda, and the United States. We find inspiration from the principles of liberation

medicine, the conscious and conscientious use of health to promote social justice, human

dignity, human rights and peace.

There is so much suffering in this world we find ourselves, but since the brutal murder of 1200

lives by Hamas on October 7th, the onslaught of devastation has been overwhelming. The

ongoing atrocities perpetrated by the state of Israel, funded and armed by the US government,

has as of this writing killed over 37,000, wounded 81,000, a large percentage being women and

children. It has displaced the majority of the 2,000,000 inhabitants of the Gaza Strip.

Furthermore, 723 healthcare workers have been killed, another 924 wounded and 450 health

facilities attacked. In addition, the use of starvation to further devastate the Palestinian people

is a clear form of collective punishment and an international war crime.²

We call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages,

the immediate release of all humanitarian aid to Gaza, the cessation of all offensive military

weapons to Israel. We call for the right to return for those displaced in Gaza. We call for the end

of state-backed violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and for the end of the Israeli

occupation of Palestinian Territories. We call for an end to the brutal repression in all its forms of

protesting college students and activists who are valiantly rising up against these atrocities and

standing for justice.

DGH’s affirmation that every human life is equally precious compels us to stand with those who

struggle for social justice, human rights and peace. True health is based on people living free of

oppression, violence and colonization. The Palestinian people, the Israeli people deserve no

less. May we honor the words of the Palestinian poet Dr. Refaat Alareer, killed by an Israeli

airstrike with his family in December 2023:

If I must die

“If I must die,

you must live

to tell my story

to sell my things

to buy a piece of cloth

and some strings,

(make it white with a long tail)

so that a child, somewhere in Gaza

while looking heaven in the eye

awaiting his dad who left in a blaze–and bid no one farewell

not even to his flesh

not even to himself–

sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above

and thinks for a moment an angel is there

bringing back love

If I must die

let it bring hope

let it be a tale”³

May we find our way back to ourselves, to stop the killing, and begin building a world worthy of

all of our children.

Doctors for Global Health, DGH

—

1. “Rights expert finds ‘reasonable grounds’ genocide is being committed in Gaza“
   “I am now persuaded that Israel is engaged in genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. What has changed my mind is its sustained
   policy of obstructing the movement of humanitarian assistance into the territory.”
   Aryeh Neier, German-born Jewish Holocaust survivor, founder of Human Rights Watch.
   ICJ finds genocide case against Israel ‘plausible’, orders it to stop violations
   A top U.N. court says Gaza genocide is ‘plausible’ but does not order cease-fire ↩︎
2. “WHO situational report”
   Gaza: Hamas, Israel committed war crimes, claims independent rights probe ↩︎
3. “If I Must Die” ↩︎