WASHINGTON
Doctors Against Genocide (DAG) has called on the US Senate to take action to end the genocide in the Gaza Strip.
"We are here to the Senate to demand that they do their job," Dr. Nidal Jboor, co-founder of DAG, told Anadolu on Wednesday.
The global coalition of health care workers mobilized more than 100 doctors, nurses, and medical professionals on Capitol Hill, also calling for the restoration of funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
Jboor said DAG is urging the Senate to adopt, pass, and co-sponsor two resolutions.
"Senate resolution 68 that warns against the US involvement, against US deploying forces to Gaza that considers the forced displacement of Palestinians as illegal. The United States should not be involved in it, and it also emphasizes the right of the Palestinian people, like all people in the world, to self-determination. So, we are urging senators to co-sign on this resolution," he added.
The other resolution, Jboor said, seeks to restore UNRWA funding.
"We know that there is a vote on this coming up in the Senate, and we are urging all senators to work to restore the funding for UNRWA, because UNRWA provides 70% of primary health care in Gaza," he said, adding that the agency's role is "very crucial."
UNRWA, established in 1949, provides health, education, and social services to Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, Lebanon, Jordan, and Gaza.
However, Israel last month ordered the agency to shut down all its operations in East Jerusalem.
UNRWA's chief Philippe Lazzarini has repeatedly emphasized that the agency is the "backbone" of the humanitarian response in Gaza.
- US 'must keep funding' UN agency for Palestinian refugees
"They are the biggest organization on the ground. They have been doing this for 70-80 years, and we think no other organization is equipped to do the job that they do. We're urging the United States government and the Senate to pass the resolution to restore their funding," Jboor said.
He added that DAG is also working to introduce a new resolution demanding the "absolute" protection of health care workers and institutions worldwide, including in Gaza.
"We think that health care institutions are sacred places. They should never be a target under any excuse.
"We are trying to find a senator who will sponsor this resolution and pass it and make it the new law of the land, here in the States and all over the world," he stressed.
James C. Cobey, an orthopedic surgeon, told Anadolu that he first went to Gaza in 1964 as a volunteer with UNRWA, spending three months caring for dehydrated children. He expressed his desire to return to the besieged enclave.
"I'm here today to get the government to stop funding Israel, and be sure they do fund UNRWA. UNRWA must be funded. It's a lifeblood," said Cobey, who also shared in the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines.
He said children are dying due to a lack of food and called for the US to halt all arms funding to Israel.
"And (the US) must keep funding UNRWA," he added.
Emad Abou-Arab, a family medicine provider, said they are pressing the Senate to pass resolutions to restore UNRWA funding.
Last month, DAG was also at the Senate building, urging the then-Biden administration to halt aid to Israel after Israeli forces detained their colleagues in Gaza, including Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital.
When asked what has changed since last month, Abou-Arab said much has changed, except for the fight for a free Palestine and the fight against the genocide in Gaza.
"We need to continue to fight. And the power is upstairs in these offices and that's why we're here today," he said.
A Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas has been in place since last month, temporarily halting Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed nearly 48,300 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.
- 'Still many people die from active bombings, diseases'
Adlah Sukkar, a pulmonologist, told Anadolu that despite the ceasefire, bombings continue.
"We're still seeing many, many, many, many people die not from active bombings, but from diseases and preventable deaths from lack of basic access to things like medicines, things like clean water, things of those nature.
"So, we still have an immense amount of work to do from a health care perspective," she added.
Toke Odimayomi, a pediatric emergency doctor, said she understands what it is like to see a child amputated or bleeding.
Odimayomi told Anadolu that such work is extremely difficult without medical supplies.
"I can't imagine my colleagues in Gaza practicing under the circumstances that they're doing it," she said.
She stressed that everyone deserves access to food, medicine, water, and basic health care.
"So that's why I'm standing here today to stand with the people in Gaza and all around the world who are facing genocides," she added.
In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
