Four human rights organisations are calling on the negotiating parties in the Gaza ceasefire agreement “to secure the release” of hundreds of essential healthcare workers in Gaza unlawfully detained by the Israeli military.

“As hostage exchange negotiations progress, we call for unlawfully detained medical personnel to be released,” Children Not Numbers, Human Rights Watch, MedGlobal and Physicians for Human Rights Israel said in a joint statement.

The groups noted that releasing the health workers is a necessity since medical personnel are protected under international humanitarian law.

They also noted that releasing the health workers is “crucial to saving lives in Gaza” where “the remaining staff are overwhelmed by more than 110,000 wounded civilians”.

“Gaza’s irreplaceable health workers – surgeons, pediatricians, gynecologists, obstetricians, orthopedists, and emergency responders – are vital for saving lives and sustaining essential medical services,” they said.

Under the terms of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, Israeli authorities were supposed to let at least 50 Palestinian patients leave Gaza for medical treatment daily. But Palestinian officials say less than 15 percent have been allowed to evacuate.

These restrictions mean families are having to make painful choices, including letting children with cancer and other serious illnesses travel alone.

This comes as doctors warn that thousands need urgent treatment outside Gaza, and rights groups accuse Israel of violating humanitarian law by delaying the evacuations.

Israel’s “Iron Wall” operation has displaced 44,000 Palestinians in the north of the occupied territory, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) says, calling for “serious” global pressure on Israeli authorities to end the deadly campaign.

“What we are witnessing in the West Bank is the worst situation since the second Intifada; certain aspects of the military campaign may be even worse. The patterns of attacks and methods used are also similar to those seen during Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza,” Diana Alzeer, FIDH’s vice president, said from Ramallah.

“The Israeli occupying forces have been extremely brutal in their systematic methods to empty refugee camps; they have raided Palestinian houses, destroyed infrastructure and homes, and used aerial attacks and live ammunition to kill Palestinians, and obstructed medical care from communities. Across the entire West Bank, various forms of oppressive and collective punishment measures have been implemented. This illegal occupation and Israel’s settler-colonial apartheid against the Palestinian people must come to an end,” she said.

As we’ve been reporting, the operation, which started in Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank on January 21, has now expanded to other refugee camps, including in the south of the territory.