Gaza: Doctors Under Attack
Directed by Karim Shah
Basement Films. 2025
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack is a powerful account of the systematic Israeli targeting of medical staff as part of its genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The film, issued by Channel 4 in Britain, after being dropped by the BBC, was shown on August 9 at the Addison Road Community Centre, to an audience of more than 200 people.
The film showing was followed by a Q&A discussion featuring touring Palestinian psychiatrist, author and human rights advocate Dr Samah Jabr, facilitated by Dr Sarah Abdo, consultant endocrinologist and Australia New Zealand Doctors for Palestine (ANZDFP) member, advocating for health justice in Palestine.
The evening, and the national tour of Dr Jabr, is being sponsored by a group of organisations — the Shifa Project, Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), Addison Road Community Centre, Australia Palestine Mental Health Network, Muslim Aid Australia, Health Workers 4 Palestine, the ANZDFP, Palestine Justice Movement Sydney, and the Jewish Council of Australia.
Doctors Under Attack bills itself as a "forensic investigation" into claims that the Israel Defence Forces have been systematically targeting Palestinian medics in all 36 of Gaza’s hospitals. The attacks, according to the United Nations, follow a set pattern. First, a hospital comes under bombardment, then it is besieged. After that, it is raided by tanks and bulldozers and its medical workers are detained. And then, once the hospital has essentially been rendered non-functional, the forces move on and repeat," a Guardian review of the film reported on July 3.
"It’s a strategy designed to cripple Gaza for years to come, says one talking head. After all, when a building is destroyed, you can throw up another in its place. But medics require years of training. Rob Gaza of their expertise and you deny its chances of ever rebuilding. This is despite, as the film repeats time and time again, healthcare workers being protected under international law...
"We are shown doctors doing their best in overwhelmed hospitals with no water or electricity, racing to treat wounds that have already begun to rot. We are shown them coming under what seem like targeted attacks, being detained in black sites where they will be tortured and interrogated. There is footage of a gang rape by soldiers. We are shown children, injured and dead, in vast numbers.
"The central part of the film, however, is stories of individual doctors. There is Dr Khaled Hamouda, discussing the direct attack on his home that killed 10 members of his family, and the drone strike that moments later hit the house the survivors escaped to. His wife and young daughter dead, he then took refuge in the grounds of his hospital, which was bombarded and raided. He was detained along with 70 other doctors, and beaten," the review explains.
Doctors Under Attack is a shocking indictment of the systematic destruction of the Gazan health system, as a key part of the Israeli plan to make Gaza unliveable for the foreseeable future. It reveals a key part of the fascist-like Israeli genocidal war on Palestine.
In the discussion after the film showing at Addison Road, Dr Jabr explained the acute psychological pressure being imposed on the Palestinian people of Gaza as a conscious policy of the Israeli government. The systematic attempt to destroy the health system in Gaza permanently, and to break down the will to resist of the people, is a crucial element of the Israeli war of genocide.
Dr Jabr's tour takes in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and New Zealand over August 4 to 24. Based in Jerusalem, Dr Jabr's first Australasian tour features public talks, workshops and the launch of her new book: Radiance in Pain and Resilience.
[For more information on the tour, contact: www.shifaproject.org.au]