By Merve Aydogan
HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - UN special rapporteur on health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, made an urgent appeal on Friday to global leaders and called on them to use their influence to halt the genocide in Gaza.
"We just need all of the world leaders to summon the economic, political, diplomatic power that they have to make sure that this genocide ends," Mofokeng told reporters at a news conference in New York.
Emphasizing that the right to health has become "untenable" amid relentless violence by Israel, she said that health workers are "exhausted, harassed, killed, [and] impeded from fulfilling their tasks as first responders."
Describing the dire conditions in occupied Palestinian territories under which healthcare professionals operate, Mofokeng stated that many are forced to perform surgeries without anesthesia or essential medicines.
"All of us continue to bear witness to the very practice of medicine being under attack," she said, as she also introduced a new term—"medicide"—to describe the widespread, systematic attacks by Israel on healthcare workers and facilities.
Saying that "this genocide has shown the incredible work that doctors, healthcare, and other care workers do in defending human rights," she said that "they are the oath takers, the ones who refused to leave and stayed caring for their patients, knowing their own fates."
In her ongoing communication with Israeli officials, Mofokeng said she is coordinating with other UN experts to demand accountability, investigation, and an immediate cease-fire.
"We are unlocking new levels that we can never undo," she warned, stressing the urgency of reining in impunity.
Israel has continued a devastating offensive on Gaza since an attack in October of last year by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
More than 42,800 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 100,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the territory’s entire population amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.