Canada Must Protect Palestinian Healthcare Workers, End Genocide
The Canadian Union of Public Employees is demanding urgent action to end Israeli military attacks on Palestinian first responders and healthcare workers in Gaza, and to stop the ongoing genocide.
CUPE represents 190,000 healthcare workers, including over 9,000 paramedics and first responders across Canada.
CUPE National President Mark Hancock has written to foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly about the dire situation in Gaza. There are hundreds of documented Israeli military attacks on healthcare workers and healthcare facilities, including the recent execution of a convoy of 15 medical and emergency workers.
“Those emergency workers were killed while they were trying to save lives. These are absolutely horrifying attacks by Israel. Canada can and must act now to protect Palestinian healthcare workers and all Palestinian people in Gaza,” says Hancock. Israeli attacks have killed more than 1050 healthcare workers since October 7, 2023. More than 500 have been detained in Gaza and the West Bank. The ongoing bombardment has destroyed hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
CUPE is calling for a full and immediate two-way arms embargo on Israel. CUPE is also calling on the federal government to demand:
- the immediate release of all Palestinian healthcare workers being held in detention;
- the immediate suspension of attacks on healthcare workers and on hospitals, ambulances and health centres, and aid workers;
- accountability for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law;
- an immediate and permanent ceasefire; and
- an end to the blockade of food, medical and humanitarian aid for Gaza.
CUPE’s letter reminds Joly of Canada’s responsibility under international law to “employ all reasonable means” to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.
“Gaza’s healthcare workers have served in impossible conditions for the last 18 months. We have witnessed their pain and suffering in countless devastating images and videos. How much misery will they and the Palestinian people have to endure before Canada finally lives up to its international obligations?” says CUPE National Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick. •
This article first published on the CUPE website.
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, P.C., M.P. Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development
Dear Minister:
Re: Protect Palestinian healthcare workers and end the genocide
On behalf of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), we are writing to raise alarm about the conditions of healthcare workers in Palestine. As Canada’s largest union representing paramedics, emergency workers and other first responders, the news from Gaza that Israel executed a convoy of 15 medical personnel and emergency workers on March 23, 2025, is deeply disturbing. This follows credible reports of hundreds of attacks on healthcare workers including workers being detained by Israel under brutal conditions including physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, starvation, and medical neglect. We are demanding the Canadian government take immediate action to stop the genocide.
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) grants medical personnel special protection under Geneva Conventions and yet, Israel continues to attack and detain healthcare workers with impunity. According to the United Nations and the World Health Organization’s latest figures, 1,057 health workers have been killed and 517 have been detained in Gaza and the West Bank since October 7, 2023. Medical facilities, including hospitals, have been attacked 739 times despite also being protected under IHL. These figures have increased since Israel ended the ceasefire on March 18, 2025, and occur in a context where more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 9,500 are detained by Israel as political prisoners.
On March 23, 2025, ambulance crews and civil defense rescue workers from the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) were sent to the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Rafah. Their bodies, and those of their colleagues who tried to rescue them, were recovered 8 days later, buried in a mass grave. The head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza posted publicly that: “They were killed in their uniforms. Driving their clearly marked vehicles. Wearing their gloves. On their way to save lives. This should never have happened.”
A report released by Physicians for Human Rights – Israel in February 2025, includes testimonies from several detained Palestinian healthcare workers, many who were taken from their workplaces, such as hospitals and medical facilities, or from their homes. The report states, “From the moment of the arrest in Gaza, through transportation, and later in Israeli detention facilities, detainees endure physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, as well as starvation and medical neglect amounting to torture.” It further adds, “despite widespread reporting by international bodies, the inhumane conditions and abuse continue without consequences.”
The ongoing detention of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a pediatrician and the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, is a case in point. On December 27, 2024, the Israeli military raided his hospital and arbitrarily detained him, along with other medical staff and patients. The raid put the hospital, the last functioning major medical facility in Northern Gaza out of service. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya was one of the most prominent voices in defense of Gaza’s decimated healthcare sector, and Israel continues to imprison and torture him with impunity. Given Israel’s track record, we fear he will not be released alive.
We have an obligation to hold Israeli authorities accountable to safeguard the rights and lives of all the people of Gaza, including the healthcare workers. As a party to the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Canada has an obligation to “employ all reasonable means” to prevent and punish the crime of genocide wherever it occurs.
We are calling on the Government of Canada to impose a full and immediate 2-way arms embargo on Israel and to demand:
- the immediate release of all Palestinian healthcare workers being held in detention.
- the immediate suspension of attacks on healthcare workers and on hospitals, ambulances and health centres, and aid workers.
- accountability for violations of the international humanitarian and human rights law.
- an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
- the blockade on food, medical and humanitarian aid to Gaza be lifted.
Taking action to protect Palestinian healthcare workers and to end the genocide is not a choice, it is our obligation. We urge you to act quickly. •
Yours sincerely, MARK HANCOCK National President
