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LONDON: The Guardian has released a new documentary exploring the complex reality faced by Palestinian doctors working in Israel, as they navigate systemic discrimination, deepening identity struggles, and mounting hostility amid the ongoing Gaza war.

Titled “The Oath: To Be a Palestinian Doctor in Israel’s Healthcare System,” the 22-minute documentary follows Dr. Lina Qasem-Hassan, a Palestinian doctor living and working in Israel, as she upholds her medical oath to treat both Israelis and Palestinians amid the Gaza war.

She highlighted that while Arab citizens comprise nearly a quarter of Israeli doctors, many face unequal treatment in access and opportunity. The physician said she is determined to use her oath to fight injustice.  

“Since 7 October, Palestinian staff in the Israeli healthcare system have faced persecution, slander and paralysis. Anti-Palestinian sentiment is surging, even among patients and colleagues,” Qasem-Hassan wrote in her op-ed in The Guardian.

She noted that Israeli policies in the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank, forced displacement, and restriction of movement systematically restrict access to care, undermining the right to health for Palestinians both in Israel and the occupied territories.

This impact has been further exacerbated by the war on Gaza, where at least 1,581 health workers have been killed since Oct. 7. Only 18 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially functional amid the widespread destruction of the healthcare system, according to UN figures, leaving patients without access to treatment amid severe shortages of medical supplies and staff.

The documentary recounts the death of Qasem-Hassan’s relative Marwan, a paramedic who was killed in an airstrike while transporting the wounded to hospital just hours after the war began. Weeks later, another strike on a refugee camp claimed the lives of 10 more members of her family.

“All this takes place under deafening silence from the Israeli healthcare establishment and many of my fellow physicians, who too often choose silence over basic ethics and morality,” said Qasem-Hassan.

As the chairwoman of Physicians for Human Rights — Israel, Qasem-Hassan detailed how her advocacy puts her at risk of suspension or persecution.

Earlier this year, patients submitted complaints against her for alleged pro‑Palestinian views. Yet, she refused to stay silent.

“Any expression of sympathy for victims — women, children, innocent civilians — is seen as support for terror,” she wrote.

“And still, I continue to fight. Because as long as we remain silent, our oath is hollowed out, and the right to health becomes a fantasy too far to reach.”

Torn between the decision to stay or leave Israel, Qasem-Hassan reflected: “But I go back to the question: if I leave, who will stay behind?”

For now, she remains committed to providing essential medical care to Palestinians and detainees in the West Bank and Gaza through Physicians for Human Rights — Israel, while also speaking out against the Gaza war both within Israel and on international platforms, as documented in the film.

LONDON: Rights groups and diplomats have condemned the killing of Palestinian activist and journalist Awda Al-Hathaleen, who contributed to the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” as calls grow for accountability over increasing settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

Al-Hathaleen was shot in the chest on Monday during a raid by Israel settlers in Umm Al-Khair village in the South Hebron Hills. One of the settlers involved in the attack was identified as Yinon Levi, who has been sanctioned by the UK and the EU, while US President Donald Trump rescinded restrictions at the beginning of his presidency this year.

In a statement on Wednesday, Amnesty International condemned the killing as a “cold-blooded” act and “a brutal reminder of the relentless violence faced by Palestinian communities.”

The organization’s senior director for research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, Erika Guevara Rosas, urged an independent international investigation into his death and growing settler violence in the territory.

Describing the situation in the West Bank as state impunity for Israeli settler violence, Rosas called out Israeli authorities for what she described as a “deliberate failure” to investigate settler attacks.

She said an international inquiry “must address the role of Israeli authorities” in fueling settler violence against Palestinians, pointing to the recurrent failure to ensure justice and protect Palestinians’ lives.

Israel authorities said Levi was arrested in relation to his alleged responsibility for the killing, but after a court hearing he was released to house arrest as investigations continue.

Amensty International’s Rosas said Al-Hathaleen, who had recently briefed UK politicians on threats to his life, “was entitled to protection. His killing is the cruel consequence of Israel’s sustained policy of forcibly expulsing Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, including Masafer Yatta,” Rosas added.

“Awda Al-Hathaleen’s killing is not the first, but it must be the last.”

Al-Hathaleen, a father of three and prominent human rights defender from the Masafer Yatta region, was a central voice in the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” which documented the ongoing displacement and harassment of Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

His death comes during a sharp incease in settler-led assaults and Palestinian casualties in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza. At least 1,009 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank since October 2023.

Rights groups have repeatedly said that Israeli settlers, often accompanied by the army, have escalated attacks and land seizures in recent months with little or no accountability.

Israeli human rights organization, Rabbis for Human Rights, called Al-Hathaleen’s murder “the outcome of decades of unchecked settler violence and a system that grants total impunity to those who carry it out.”

In a tribute, the organization said Al-Hathaleen “stood at the forefront of the struggle against home demolitions and settler violence.”

“He often welcomed delegations of rabbis, giving them tours of the village and sharing its history with deep generosity and courage. He was a longtime partner in our humanitarian aid work and worked closely with Rabbis for Human Rights for many years. His steadfast presence and leadership were a source of strength to all of us.”

The rights group vowed to “stand with the people of Umm al-Kheir as they resist a system that seeks to erase them - as they fight to stay on their land, to live, and to thrive.”

The French foreign ministry released a statement on Tuesday calling settler violence “acts of terrorism,” and warning of increasing sanctions against Israeli government officials if such attacks continue.

It condemned the rising settler attacks and urged Israeli authorities to “uphold their responsibilities and immediately punish the perpetrators of such violence, which is continuing with impunity, and protect Palestinian civilians.”

The ministry reiterated France’s stance against the expansion of illegal settlements “which is contrary to international law, as the International Court of Justice concluded in its advisory opinion of July 19, 2024.”

In February last year, France sanctioned extremist Israeli settlers guilty of violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. There are 28 individuals who face an administrative ban on entering the country.