The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the Israeli Occupation Forces’ (IOF) destruction of Noura al-Ka’bi Dialysis Center run by the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, during their ongoing military aggression. This act is an integral part of a systematic policy aimed at accelerating the extermination of patients, particularly following the death of 41% of dialysis patients since October 2023. PCHR holds Israel fully responsible for the deteriorating conditions of kidney failure patients and considers the international community’s silence over the repeated attacks and destruction of medical facilities as a devastating blow to the principles of human rights and an implicit complicity in the crime of genocide Israel is committing against the Gaza Strip’s population.
On Sunday, 01 June 2025, the Palestinian Ministry of Hearth (MOH) announced that the IOF had demolished Noura al-Ka’bi Dialysis Center run by the Indonesian Hospital. The center was the only facility providing dialysis treatment to hundreds of patients in the northern Gaza Strip.1 Noura al-Ka’bi Dialysis Center had previously sustained damage due to the IOF’s previous attacks, which destroyed most of its dialysis machines and left only eight low-efficiency machines. The center had gone out of service in May 2025 before being blown up and totally destroyed yesterday.2
PCHR emphasizes that this crime comes as part of IOF’s intensified attacks on hospitals and specialized health centers, including targeted attacks on dialysis centers across the Gaza Strip over the past 20 months of Israeli aggression. As a result, six out of seven dialysis centers have been either destroyed or forced out of service, including four centers in Gaza and North Gaza governorates, and two in Central and Southern governorates.
According to PCHR’s report, the Israeli attacks destroyed 78 out of 140 dialysis machines, reducing the services provided to patients by half. The remaining dialysis centers are currently witnessing severe overcrowding due to the use of worn-out machines alongside the inability to provide electricity to operate the machines, scarcity of clean water, and shortage of essential medical supplies, all of which gravely threaten patients’ lives. These harsh conditions have led to the deaths of 472 kidney failure patients due to the Israeli siege and the destruction of health centers. Approximately 728 kidney patients currently rely on dialysis services distributed across four centers that have been reopened despite severe damage: Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City (280 patients), Al-Zawayda Field Hospital in central Gaza Strip (50 patients), Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis (260 patients), and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah (138 patients).3
PCHR holds Israel fully responsible for the consequences of these acts, which constitute war crimes under Article 18 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which prohibits the targeting of civilian objects which are not military objectives. It also emphasizes that the deliberate deprivation of regular medical treatment for kidney failure patients constitutes a crime against humanity, as defined in the Rome Statute, and entails elements of genocide when it involves the intent to eliminate or destroy part of a civilian group by depriving them of vital medical services. This act is also among the prohibited acts codified under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
PCHR believes that the repeated targeting of medical facilities in the northern Gaza Strip and the suspension of specialized health services is part of attempts to tighten the siege and forcibly displace the population. This is coupled with a deliberate intent of physical destruction, which constitutes an element of the crime of genocide as defined in Article 2 of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Moreover, such acts violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forcible displacement of protected people, as such acts pose a direct threat to the lives of patients in accordance with the right to life and the right to health guaranteed under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
In light of the above, PCHR calls on the international community to assume its responsibilities to stop these violations, which amount to war crimes, deliberate impoverishment, and denial of healthcare. PCHR stresses the urgent need to exert maximum pressure on the Israeli authorities to open safe humanitarian corridors that enable the immediate delivery of dialysis equipment, fuel, and medicines to save the remaining patients. It also calls for the activation of international criminal accountability mechanisms to initiate legal proceedings against the military and political leaders responsible for these crimes and to compel Israel to comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law, particularly the protection of medical facilities, patients, and medical personnel.
