Over 15,000 medics and healthcare workers in Italy take a stand on Gaza.Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and healthcare workers across Italy on Thursday will participate in a national day of fasting against the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.Organisers expect more than 15,000 medical workers to adhere to the Fasting for Gaza campaign which is set to involve around 500 hospitals and healthcare facilities in Italy. The campaign cites a long list of reasons for the demonstration: "systematic attacks on civilians, famine, bombings of hospitals and schools, 1,400 healthcare workers killed according to the World Health Organization". The nationwide protest comes two days after Israel bombed the Nasser Hospital in Gaza with a double strike that killed at least 20 people, including five journalists. Organisers of Thursday's demonstration describe the situation in Gaza as "an unprecedented humanitarian emergency, which also requires a concrete response from healthcare institutions". The fast and protests in front of health facilities will be accompanied by three specific demands: for the Italian government to suspend all military agreements with Israel, halt arms sales, demand a ceasefire and humanitarian corridors; and for healthcare institutions, professional associations, universities and research centres to "publicly recognise the genocide in Gaza". The campaign is also calling on doctors, pharmacists, patients and local authorities to boycott medicines manufactured by the Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva. "The attack on healthcare workers strikes us both out of instinctive solidarity with our colleagues and because we realise it is part of Israel's deliberate strategy to deny civilians access to healthcare," Dr Viviana Fusco, director of the mental health department of the Naples 2 Local Health Authority, told Italian news outlet Fanpage, adding: "We have a duty as professionals to raise our voices against what is happening." The Digiuno per Gaza initiative was born after around 4,000 healthcare workers in Tuscany fasted in solidarity with Gaza last month, with the appeal gaining steady support nationwide, including from more than 100 civil associations. Photo credit: Anas-Mohammed / Shutterstock.com.

Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and healthcare workers across Italy on Thursday will participate in a national day of fasting against the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Organisers expect more than 15,000 medical workers to adhere to the Fasting for Gaza campaign which is set to involve around 500 hospitals and healthcare facilities in Italy. The campaign cites a long list of reasons for the demonstration: "systematic attacks on civilians, famine, bombings of hospitals and schools, 1,400 healthcare workers killed according to the World Health Organization". The nationwide protest comes two days after Israel bombed the Nasser Hospital in Gaza with a double strike that killed at least 20 people, including five journalists. Organisers of Thursday's demonstration describe the situation in Gaza as "an unprecedented humanitarian emergency, which also requires a concrete response from healthcare institutions". The fast and protests in front of health facilities will be accompanied by three specific demands: for the Italian government to suspend all military agreements with Israel, halt arms sales, demand a ceasefire and humanitarian corridors; and for healthcare institutions, professional associations, universities and research centres to "publicly recognise the genocide in Gaza". The campaign is also calling on doctors, pharmacists, patients and local authorities to boycott medicines manufactured by the Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva. "The attack on healthcare workers strikes us both out of instinctive solidarity with our colleagues and because we realise it is part of Israel's deliberate strategy to deny civilians access to healthcare," Dr Viviana Fusco, director of the mental health department of the Naples 2 Local Health Authority, told Italian news outlet Fanpage, adding: "We have a duty as professionals to raise our voices against what is happening." The Digiuno per Gaza initiative was born after around 4,000 healthcare workers in Tuscany fasted in solidarity with Gaza last month, with the appeal gaining steady support nationwide, including from more than 100 civil associations. Photo credit: Anas-Mohammed / Shutterstock.com.