Nurses denounce killing of Palestinian Nursing Association leader

National Nurses United (NNU), the country's largest union and professional association of registered nurses, today condemned Israeli forces' recent killing of Dr. Mohammed Akram Al-Kafarneh, head of the Palestinian Nursing Association in the Gaza Strip and chief nursing supervisor at Kamal Adwan Medical Complex.

Nurses all around the globe are grieving the senseless murder of our colleague, Dr. Mohammed Akram Al-Kafarneh. We are appalled to see that not even one month after the bombing of Nasser Hospital, Israel is yet again attacking society's healers and flouting international law, which says medical facilities and medical workers are completely off limits to military strikes. Nurses stand in solidarity with our Palestinian colleagues against this outrageous violence.

NNU has condemned Israeli strikes that have killed scores of medical and rescue workers, patients, and journalists, as well as the ongoing starvation of the Palestinian people, with news reports saying tens of thousands of children and babies are starving to death. Nurses call these actions by Israel tantamount to war crimes and a genocide against Palestinians, and demand an immediate ceasefire as well as a stop to all U.S. funding of Israel's military.

An injury to one of us is an injury to all of us, and nurses everywhere call for an end to this violence before one more life is lost.

As union nurses, we understand the collective power of the working class, and we encourage people who believe in the right to a life free from war and violence to stand in solidarity and protest, and to contact their elected representatives to demand an end to U.S. funding of the Israeli military. Israel cannot be allowed to continue to violate the basic laws of morality and violate international law, time and time again, without being held accountable.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.