AhlulBayt News Agency: Oxfam International has expressed deep sorrow over last week’s Israeli strike on its partner’s premises in Gaza that killed a 27-year-old pregnant aid worker and her two children, urging accountability for the killings of over 1,600 aid and healthcare workers since the genocidal war began.
Tasneem, a psychologist at Oxfam’s partner organization, Juzoor for Health and Community Development, and her two children, Sham (5), and Suleiman (3), were in an Israeli airstrike on 20 September.
“Tasneem was a courageous and devoted humanitarian. Despite constant danger, she served those in desperate need to the end. Her death, along with her children, is a heartbreaking tragedy,” said Dr. Umiayeh Khammash, Director of Juzoor.
“This violence is destroying those who are trying to help. It is incomprehensible and it must end. Enough is enough,” Khammash added.
At the time of her death, Tasneem was pregnant and had already lost her son, Muslam, in a previous attack last year. Her husband remains critically injured from the recent strike.
On Monday, two additional Oxfam partner organizations—Al Ataa, a women’s association working to empower and protect vulnerable groups, and a Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) clinic—also had their premises destroyed by Israeli strikes.
Furthermore, on Wednesday, PMRS’s administrative headquarters, which was regarded as the organization’s main medical facility, was destroyed. This brings the total number of PMRS centers impacted to ten: nine in northern Gaza and one in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
PMRS has played a crucial role in providing daily treatment amid the ongoing violence.
Its services have included primary healthcare, maternal health services, women’s health initiatives, malnutrition clinics, psychosocial support, and specialist care in cardiology, endocrinology, pulmonology, nephrology, nutrition, and ophthalmology.
The attacks by the Israeli regime, which led to the destruction of the remaining two PMRS centers in northern Gaza and the forced displacement of staff and patients, represent a devastating blow to already fragile communities that have limited access to health services.
“In a single moment, the sacred and noble work carried out by our doctors and humanitarian workers was destroyed, our facilities completely wiped out,” said Dr. Bassam Zaquot, PMRS Gaza Strip Manager.
“At the same time, we are forced to suspend the work of our mobile medical teams in Gaza out of fear for their lives. The deliberate destruction of the services we provide is a message of extermination that endangers everyone,” Zaquot added.
“We are overwhelmed with grief, sorrow, and a deep sense of injustice.”
Oxfam’s regional coordinator in Gaza, Ruth James, condemned the systematic killing of aid workers, stating that “These are just some of the hundreds of attacks on aid workers killed in their homes or while doing their jobs,” that have occurred over the last two years by the Israeli regime with “impunity.”
“Our partners take incredible risks to deliver life-saving aid to Palestinians in Gaza whose suffering is unimaginable. The killing of aid workers and the destruction of vital humanitarian infrastructure, like clinics, are senseless and brutal, and ultimately mean thousands of Palestinians are less likely to get the support they desperately need,” said James.
The killing of several Oxfam partners and the destruction of critical humanitarian infrastructure since the start of the Gaza genocide reflect a deeply disturbing pattern of attacks on aid workers and humanitarian facilities, reported with increasing frequency by organizations operating in Gaza.
Approximately one million people, forcibly displaced into overcrowded and ill-equipped so-called “humanitarian areas,” are now at heightened risk due to the Israeli regime’s ongoing military strikes.
James emphasized that humanitarian workers can only respond to the overwhelming needs of Palestinians in Gaza if they are not under constant threat from Israeli attacks.
She condemned the “unprecedented attacks on the humanitarian community launched by the Israeli regime since the start of the genocide,” and noted that the regime “must be held accountable” for the nearly 1,600 confirmed killings of aid and healthcare workers.
“The international community must take urgent steps to end the genocide in Gaza by demanding a ceasefire, lifting the siege to allow critical aid into Gaza, and ensuring all aid workers are protected so they can carry out their vital work without fear,” said James.
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