Doctors go on strike after Palestinian gunmen attack hospitals in occupied West Bank

Doctors go on strike after Palestinian gunmen attack hospitals in occupied West Bank
The gunmen raided the hospital, vandalised equipment and assaulted doctors in al-Razi hospital in Jenin and Alia hospital in Hebron.
2 min read
03 August, 2017
Gunman assaulting hospital staff in al-Razi hospital in Jenin [Youtube]
Palestinian doctors in occupied West Bank went on a two hour strike on Tuesday morning in protest of recent assaults on hospitals by Palestinian gunmen in Jenin and Hebron.

The gunmen raided the hospital, vandalised equipment and assaulted the public sector doctors in al-Razi hospital in Jenin and Alia hospital in Hebron on Monday.

Palestinian police spokesperson Luay Irzeiqat said that the assailants had broken into al-Razi hospital’s accident and emergency room, damaging an ambulance and firing two gunshots. They also destroyed other hospital equipment.

According to Wafa News Agency, the attackers in Jenin were "provoked" after a delay in admission of a relative with critical injuries following a car accident. 

Gunmen attack al-Razi hospital in Jenin

The motive for the attacks in Hebron are still unknown.

The strike took place between 9am to 11am.

Ongoing attacks on hospitals

Palestinian hospitals have also recently been targeted by Israelis amid unrest in Jerusalem.

Israeli soldiers and police stormed a Palestinian hospital twice over the past week, terrifying staff and patients preventing doctors from providing emergency medical care to critically injured Palestinians who had already been subjected to Israeli violence.

Staff and patients complained that Israeli abuse has followed injured Palestinians to the hospital, where in one instance police and soldiers chased a 19-year-old teenager from Silwan who was severely bleeding after a bullet had hit an artery in his thigh.

They had also followed and harassed a young man who was in need of emergency chest surgery all the way into the operating theatre.