Tens of Thousands of UK Health Workers Hold Vigils in Solidarity with Gaza

Tens of thousands of healthcare professionals across the United Kingdom staged coordinated vigils this week, marking the largest collective action by the sector in solidarity with Gaza.

According to the British outlet Middle East Eye, candlelit gatherings were held outside the Royal Colleges in London, Edinburgh, Belfast, and Cardiff. Participants called for urgent intervention to address Gaza’s collapsing healthcare system.

In London, medical staff gathered outside the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. More than 5,000 British doctors signed petitions delivered to the institutions, demanding swift action and accountability for the destruction of Gaza’s health infrastructure.

Since the escalation of Israeli military operations nearly two years ago, Gaza’s hospitals have been repeatedly targeted, and medical professionals attacked. Over 1,600 healthcare workers have been killed. Paediatricians now warn that Israel’s blockade and enforced deprivation are causing catastrophic harm to children.

Retired paediatrician Tony Watterson, who joined the London vigil, described the devastation of Gaza’s health system as unbearable to watch, stressing that many children will live with permanent disabilities and lifelong trauma.

Dr Farhana Rahman noted that the dismantling of Gaza’s health services would impact generations to come, urging immediate international action.

Palestinian-British surgeon Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, who has treated children rescued from beneath hospital rubble in Gaza, accused leading UK medical institutions of failing to show solidarity with Palestinian doctors and patients. He recounted the case of 13-year-old Anas, who was admitted to Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital in October 2023 with severe burns covering more than half of his body. Despite repeated surgeries, Anas died, followed by his mother two days later. He was one of more than 20,000 children reported killed in Gaza.

Abu-Sittah warned that the systematic destruction of Gaza’s health sector represents a model for future warfare, arguing that Israel has made the targeting of healthcare infrastructure a central military strategy.