On Sunday, Israel killed Dr. Thabat Salim, an OBGYN who worked for the Palestine Family Planning and Protection Association (PFPPA), in an airstrike on a residential building, part of Israel's continued, brutal war on Palestinian health workers in Gaza.
In a press release shared with Jezebel, PFPPA, which is a member organization of International Planned Parenthood (IPPF), said that Salim, 30, was killed in a house in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp. She died “just hours after providing care to women and children,” the organization said. In November, the United Nations reported that 80% of victims in Gaza are killed by Israeli strikes on residential buildings and 70% of fatalities are women and children.
As I've reported on the reproductive health crises unfolding in Gaza over the last year, Salim has been a source of mine through PFPPA, sharing the harsh realities she was seeing on the ground. Last month, Salim told Jezebel in an email that there’s been a “sharp rise” in miscarriages, maternal deaths, and “high-risk pregnancies” during Israel's war on Gaza, and said that the few remaining hospitals in the region are “operating at over 250% capacity.” She also warned of “critical shortages of antibiotics, incubators, and basic hygiene supplies are endangering lives”—particularly vulnerable newborns and postpartum women, who face heightened risk of sepsis.
“The conflict has created generational trauma and worsened poverty and malnutrition, with no resolution in sight,” Salim wrote. “Healthcare infrastructure is nearing complete collapse, and the ongoing violence threatens to deepen the crisis further.”
In a statement shared with Jezebel, PFPPA called Salim “a pillar of hope for the women and children she served,” adding that she “was deeply respected by her colleagues and the community, who relied on her courage and dedication.”
“Dr. Thabat Salim, you were an unwavering angel at every moment. You moved tirelessly among the ruins of war, doubling your efforts to provide humanitarian aid and services,” the organization said. “You were a source of comfort, wiping the tears of mothers and easing the pain of children and patients suffering the horrors of war in Gaza. … Our only solace is that you are a shining star in Gaza’s sky, and that sky will remain illuminated by your contributions and lasting legacy.”
Dr. Thabat Salim and a patient, courtesy of PFPPA
In the statement, PFPPA and IPPF also condemned the killings of “over 1,000 healthcare workers who risked everything to serve their communities” by Israeli forces since October 2023.
Israel’s targeting of hospitals and healthcare workers can only be understood as an act of genocide; Israel is not just killing civilians but making an example of anyone who helps save Palestinian lives. Doctors who have survived Israeli detainment recount torture and brutal, inhumane conditions in prison camps; many others don’t survive. Healthcare workers say they're being deliberately targeted by Israeli forces. Just last month, Israel detained Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who has written several op-eds in the New York Times describing the horrors he’s witnessed while serving patients during Israel’s genocide; Israel baselessly accused the doctor of “involvement in terrorist activities, and for holding a rank," and is holding him in Israel's Sde Teyman military base, which has become notorious for rampant human rights abuses against detainees.
In July, PFPPA shared the story of one of their own healthcare workers, Wafa Abu Hasheish, who miscarried while fleeing a bombing. “I was able to find a doctor only after reaching Rafah, who confirmed I was miscarrying. I didn’t even realize I was pregnant,” the mother of three said.
As of this week, Gaza’s health ministry counts about 47,000 people killed by Israeli forces since October 2023. The Costs of War Project at Brown University recently estimated that the actual death toll is likely well over 100,000, thanks to the total collapse of Gaza’s health system.
Israel’s war on Gaza has brought disparate harm to pregnant women and children. Gaza has seen a 300% increase in miscarriages. There’s nowhere safe to give birth; C-sections without anesthetic and fatal infections are rampant; and, as Salim noted, maternal and infant mortality have surged, too. In an October article in The Lancet, doctors warned that Israel’s attacks on reproductive healthcare in Gaza are “not merely collateral damage,” but “a violation of international law, a grim reminder of the structural violence imposed on this population.” Nonetheless, doctors like Salim have been risking their lives to provide any care they can to their pregnant patients and children.
In her email in December, Salim called on the international community to act and reject complicity in Israel’s genocide: “Urgent international action is necessary to secure ceasefires, provide humanitarian aid, and rebuild essential services,” she wrote. “The situation underscores the catastrophic impact of prolonged conflict on vulnerable populations.”
