Staff rally at Galilee Medical Center in call to end violence against medical professionals

At a rally to honor the memory of Dr. Abdallah Awad, a Galilee Medical Center physician who was murdered yesterday at a health clinic in Kfar Yasif, hospital director Prof. Masad Barhoum says, “We have zero tolerance for any act of violence. It is unacceptable for doctors’ lives to be treated with disregard.”

Speakers call for a fight against violence toward medical professionals and express condolences to Awad’s wife Sabah, a nurse in the ENT department, and his brother Ali, who also works in hospital.

“Fifty years ago, Dr. Gideon Manelis was murdered at the hospital as he examined a patient in the emergency room,” says Dr. Zvi Sheleg, deputy director. “Fifty years have passed, and nothing has changed.”

“Our hearts are broken, and no words can suffice to comfort us,” says Barhoum.

Awad, a pediatrician, was filling in for another doctor when he was killed. He was the 29th Arab Israeli to die in a violent incident since the start of the year, more than double the number of Arab homicide victims as of the same point last year.