Statement on Israeli bombings of medical supply warehouses

National Nurses United (NNU), the United States' largest union and professional association of registered nurses with more than 225,000 members, castigated the Israeli government for destroying or badly damaging almost all of Gaza's medicine warehouses as part of its ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people and in flagrant violation of a United Nations resolution prohibiting the targeting of medical facilities and medical workers during armed conflict.

As a union of registered nurses, we stand in solidarity with health care workers in Gaza and everywhere around the world, who must be protected and never targeted during armed conflicts so that we can do our jobs providing medical care and aid to all who are wounded or sick - a humanitarian goal that should be respected by Israel but is clearly not.

Since the beginning of Israel's bombardment of Gaza, Israeli defense forces have killed at least 1,700 health care workers, according to Palestinian authorities. Israel has also systematically bombed hospitals and other health care facilities, wiping out almost all of Gaza's health care infrastructure.

The Israeli government has killed nearly 75,000 Palestinians, including more than 20,000 children, since it began its deliberate annihilation of Gaza in 2023. Hundreds of thousands more have suffered catastrophic injuries, are starving, and living in abhorrent conditions, deprived of basic necessities like food, water, housing, and medical care due to Israel's cruel blockades and continued bombing and drone strikes that appear to violate the current ceasefire.

NNU has consistently called for a true ceasefire in the region and for the United States to stop funding the Israeli military, recently supporting an amendment to a spending bill that would have eliminated $3.3 billion in funding. The amendment ultimately did not pass, but a record number of legislators voted to cut off aid.

NNU nurses are also demanding that our hospitals, governments, elected officials, and public pension funds cut ties with corporations, such as Palantir, whose U.S. government-subsidized A.I. technology enables Israel to carry out its genocide of Gaza and is likewise used in U.S. hospitals to maximize profits by depriving patients of needed care.

"It's despicable and unacceptable," said Puneet Maharaj, executive director of National Nurses United. "The intentional bombing of hospitals, schools, and public infrastructure necessary for basic living are war crimes against humanity. The health care workers, including the many nurses and doctors who take an oath to care for every patient, deserve to be alive today. The Israeli government must be held accountable for these atrocities, and the genocide must stop."

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.