An independent UN human rights expert on Tuesday submitted a report [text, PDF] to the Human Rights Council in Geneva highlighting Israel’s failure to ensure the health and welfare of Palestinians living under their control.

Michael Lynk, the current Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council, found [press release] that the healthcare system provided to Palestinians living in Gaza was deteriorating. Lynk attributed this deterioration to a number of factors, including Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory, stating that:

Characteristics such as the expanding settlement enterprise, the annexation of territory, the confiscation of private and public lands, the pillaging of resources, the publicly-stated ambitions for permanent control over all or part of the Territory, as well as the Territory’s fragmentation – has had a highly disruptive impact upon health care and the broader social determinants for health for Palestinians in the occupied territory.

Lynk noted that Israel’s failure to fulfill their obligation to the Palestinian people was exhibited in their exit system program which patients that require medical treatment outside of Gaza must go through in order to receive care.

He recommended that Israel make providing all Palestinians with reliable and accessible healthcare a priority because international law imposes a duty on occupying powers to ensure that the right to health is upheld during the term of the occupation.