Vigils to be held outside Welsh hospitals in solidarity with health and medical workers in Gaza

A series of vigils will be held outside hospitals in Wales on Saturday (4 January) in solidarity with health and medical workers in Gaza.

Over the past 15 month a significant proportion of health facilities in Gaza have been destroyed by the Israel Defence Force, and there are estimates that over a thousand health workers have been killed

Last month, the Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, was stormed by Israeli troops and Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the hospital was arrested.

The World Health Organisation said the raid put the health facility “out of service” after growing restrictions on access, adding: “This horror must end and health care must be protected.”

Detained

Dr Abu Safiya was detained along with dozens of other staff from the hospital and taken to an interrogation centre, Gaza’s health ministry said.

MedGlobal, the humanitarian organisation where Dr Abu Safiya worked, said it was gravely concerned for the chief medic. It said the incident follows the detention in October of five of its staff, calling it an “alarming and egregious pattern of targeting medical personnel and spaces”.

Eyewitnesses said that Dr. Abu Safia has been taken to the notorious Sde Teiman detention camp where another Palestinian medic, Dr, Adnan Al Bursh was tortured to death.

Human rights organisations have described inhumane conditions at the camp, with prisoners enduring freezing temperatures, systematic punishment, torture and confinement in cages resembling those used for animals.

Israel’s army has not commented on the fate of Dr Abu Safiya. It denied claims it had entered or set fire to the complex and said it was conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and militants in the area and had ordered people out of the hospital.

It repeated claims that Hamas militants operate inside Kamal Adwan Hospital but provided no evidence. Hospital officials have denied that.

Amnesty International has reported that “Since the beginning of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Israel has detained hundreds of Palestinian healthcare workers without charge or trial. Health workers have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment and held in incommunicado detention.”

Welsh politicians

Campaigners are calling on Welsh politicians in Westminster and the Senedd  to attend the vigils at Welsh hospitals on Saturday to demand the immediate and unconditional release of Dr Abu Safia, his colleagues and patients.

A spokesperson for the group organising Saturday’s action said: “We call on the British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, to insist that Dr, Abu Safia and all other health workers held hostage by Israel are released immediately. It is more important than ever at the beginning of 2025 that our voice calling for peace and justice for the people of Palestine is heard clearly.”

“Israel’s merciless massacre of innocents and deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure, especially the health sector in Palestine, Lebanon and now Syria has to stop. It is high time that politicians, especially at Westminster level stops parroting the worn out message that ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’, and recognise clearly that Israel is committing a genocide in order to create a ‘Greater Israel’.

“This flagrant violation of international law is the real agenda of Netanyahu’s government, killing tens of thousands of innocent civilians in the process.”

The organisers of Saturday’s protest include: CND Cymru, Cymdeithas y Cymod, Cymdeithas yr Iaith, Heddwch ar Waith/Peace Action Wales, Ymgyrch Cefnogi Palesteina/PSC Cymru, Stop The War Cymru

The hospitals where the vigils will be held, are:

Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor – 2pm

Ysbyty Maelor, Wrexham – 2pm

Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan  – 2.pm

Ysbyty Bronglais, Aberystwyth – 2pm

Ysbyty Glangwili, Carmarthen – 11am

Grange Hospital Cwmbran – 2pm

Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Talbot Green – 2pm

Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport – 2pm