According to information gathered by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza (PCHR), at around 11pm on Wednesday, Israeli Special Forces attacked the al-Shaath area northeast Gaza city. The troops surrounded a Palestinian home some 60 meters away from al-Wafa hospital in Gaza. Israeli helicopters hovered at a low altitude firing randomly at the homes in the area including the hospital nearby. The patients, who are mostly traumatized Palestinian civilians injured by the Israeli troops, had panicked from the noise and nurses were rushing in to comfort them.

At this time two Palestinian male nurses dressed in white had rushed in the first floor hospital room to check on their patients. An Israeli sniper fired a shot which penetrated the window and shot Abd al-Karim (22) in the chest, then exited from his back, penetrating Omar Hassaan (21) also in the chest. This one bullet claimed the lives of two and forensic evidence proves that the bullet belonged to a sniper gun and was intentionally aimed and shot at the powerless and crowded hospital.

Assaults on medics have become something of a normal practice which is always overlooked and never punished by the Israeli authorities. There have been over 22 medical personnel killed by Israeli troops since September 2000. Medics have been denied access to the injured or to the cities and refugee camps they fall at, this left dozens of Palestinians to bleed to death for lack of medical treatment during this bloody conflict. Many of the injured are detained by Israeli troops and granting them medical treatment becomes a pressure point to use during torture and interrogation. There have been over 250 attacks on ambulances recorded, dozens of which resulted in the injury or death of medical staff.

In accordance to international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention these acts are nothing short of war crimes and are a direct violation of international human rights. Yesterday, Doctors without Borders which includes some international volunteers refused to be turned back by Israeli troops and insisted on entering Khan Younis in order to deliver medical supplies and provide assistance. The crew was severely beaten by the Israelis and forced to flee. International human rights organizations such as Red Cross Society, Red Crescent Society, International Health and many more have called for movement on all fronts in order to "expose the grave Israeli violations and work to protect Palestinian medical institutes in order to provide humanitarian medical assistance to the occupied Palestinians."

With the war on Iraq just around the corner, Palestinians are bracing themselves, fearing the worst and awaiting the expected Israeli escalation of violations while all eyes are fixed on Iraq. Palestinian medics are not only in danger because of the nature of their work, they are directly targeted by trigger happy soldiers who have yet to be held accountable for the many crimes committed over the past 28 months. Is one life worth more than another? In Palestine all lives have the same value, they are all quite cheap.