Bay Area Health Care Workers Protest Israel's Attacks on Gaza Hospitals

Updated 2:02 p.m. Tuesday

Dozens of Bay Area health care workers rallied at San Francisco General Hospital on Monday as part of a nationwide protest against the ongoing war in Gaza, accusing Israel of human rights violations and the deliberate targeting of medical workers and health care facilities.

Organized by the global coalition Doctors Against Genocide, the #SickFromGenocide day of action was meant to be a collective period of mourning and rest for medical workers affected by the events of the Israel-Hamas war and the harm being done to health care facilities, workers and patients in the Gaza Strip. Nearly a hundred people rallied in front of the hospital, playing music and holding banners with messages including “Our Taxes Turn Hospitals into Mass Graves” and “Healthcare Workers Demand: Free Palestine!”

In Gaza, medical workers are struggling to keep up with high demand as the health care system sits on the brink of collapse, according to a report by United Nations News. Of the 36 hospitals in the region, only 16 remain operational after continual attacks by Israeli forces have left the rest essentially non-functional.

Hospitals still in operation are also in dire need of medical supplies, food and other essentials.

“We’re now 450 days plus into this genocide and the destruction of health care infrastructure in Gaza with no end in sight,” said Jess Ghannam, medical staff member and president of Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine at UCSF. “The complicity of the U.S. government and the health care system here with turning a blind eye to the devastation to the health care infrastructure in Gaza needs to be called out.”

In December, Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza, forcing patients to temporarily relocate to other, less equipped medical centers. Kamal Adwan had been the last remaining hospital in North Gaza. The hospital’s director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, was also arrested.

Abu Safiya is a pediatric intensive care doctor and a lead physician with MedGlobal, an international nonprofit that provides health care assistance and humanitarian aid.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, Abu Safiya was arrested and is being questioned about potential involvement with terrorist groups, claims that remain unsubstantiated. His current whereabouts are still unknown, and several international groups including Physicians for Human Rights and the World Health Organization have called for his release.

Dr. Leigh Kimberg, a primary care physician at San Francisco General Hospital and a professor of medicine at UCSF, said Abu Safiya worked tirelessly to take care of his patients even while under threat. He was previously detained, questioned and released by Israeli forces, and still continued to serve at the hospital even while injured and mourning his son, who was killed in front of him in an Israeli strike.

“To accuse Palestinian health care workers who are themselves starving because they have access to no food and are providing the care that they were trained to give while under assault of anything other than being dedicated to their sacred oath to serve humanity is deeply offensive,” Kimberg said.

The IDF justified its attack on the hospital by saying that Hamas militants were hiding at the site. The U.N. human rights chief has called that justification vague, broad and unsubstantiated.

Kimberg added that Israeli forces have attacked both health care facilities and health care workers numerous times in the past and have previously attempted to justify such actions with similar unsubstantiated claims.

“Over 1,000 of our Palestinian health care colleagues have been murdered by Israeli forces. There are testimonies of health care workers being specifically targeted by Israeli forces,” Leigh said. “More than 450 of our Palestinian colleagues have been abducted from health care institutions and imprisoned.”

A crowd gathers where health care workers rally in front of San Francisco General Hospital, after calling out sick, to protest against the war in Gaza, on Jan. 6, 2025.In San Francisco, many health care workers have already been vocal about their support for the Palestinian people.

“We’re here to come together in support of our colleagues in Gaza who continue to experience targeted attacks from Israeli forces as they try to attend to a population of people that have been genocided,” said Bridget Rochios, a midwife at San Francisco General Hospital and a nurse practitioner at UCSF. “When we get into health care, it’s because we really firmly believe in health equity and human rights for everyone, and that includes people in Gaza.”

At UCSF, several medical workers were placed on administrative leave or received warnings from colleagues and supervisors for wearing symbols of Palestinian solidarity or for speaking out against the war, Ghannam and Rochios told KQED at Monday’s rally.

The university declined to answer questions about the reprimands, saying the information was inaccurate.

Rochios, who spent a month in Gaza working at a maternity hospital, said she faced disciplinary action for wearing a watermelon pin and refusing to remove it. The fruit has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance.

When Rochios’ supervisors told her to remove the pin because it was making patients feel unsafe, she refused and was placed on administrative leave three times, she said. She is currently still on leave.

“Wearing the watermelon pin simply means that Palestinians have a right to exist. There’s nothing antisemitic about that,” Rochios said. “Palestinian people deserve to not be genocided. Every human being deserves to not be genocided.”

According to Dr. Karameh Kuemmerle, co-founder of Doctors Against Genocide and a pediatric neurologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, #SickFromGenocide is part of a larger movement on the part of health care workers to address the devastation in Gaza and U.S. funding for Israel. She said they will continue to push politicians and health care institutions to divest from Israel.

“The heroism of the medical community in Gaza is unparalleled,” Kuemmerle said. “We can only strive to be even close to how heroic they are.”

KQED’s Sara Hossaini contributed to this report.

Jan. 7: This story was updated with additional information about Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who was arrested by Israeli forces. An earlier version of the story cited the Israel Defense Forces, which suggested without evidence, that he was potentially involved with terrorist groups.