Hundreds of Australian doctors have backed an open letter demanding action to protect children in war-torn Gaza.
An open letter signed by hundreds of Australian doctors has called for stronger action to protect Palestinian children in Gaza, as one emergency physician warns the signatories may represent only the “tip of the iceberg”.
The letter, Children Are Being Killed, Starved and Maimed in Gaza. As Doctors, We Will Not Be Silent, calls on the Australian government and medical organisations to take action over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
It also condemns antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism and says criticism of the actions and policies of Israeli authorities and military forces should not be conflated with hostility towards Jewish people.
The open letter has been signed by emergency physician Dr Stephen Parnis, paediatric respiratory physician Associate Professor Vikram Palit, child and adolescent psychiatrists Professor Jon Jureidini, Associate Professor Alasdair Vance and Dr Geraldine Dyer, general paediatrician Dr Nadia Hasan, general surgeon Dr Bushra Othman, psychiatrist Dr Rasha Rahman, colorectal surgeons Dr Sanjay Adusumilli and Associate Professor Tarik Sammour, paediatric rehabilitation physician Dr Safiyyah Abbas, paediatric and adult neurosurgeon Dr Ruth Mitchell, and paediatric general surgeon Dr Hemal Kodikara.
The letter doesn’t hold back.
“As medical professionals, it sickens us to see our disciplines converge in ways they never should,” the doctors wrote.
“The WHO estimates that around 43,000 people in Gaza have sustained life-changing injuries since October 2023, up to a quarter of them children.
“These are not statistics to us: they are major limb injuries, traumatic amputations, spinal cord injuries, burns and shattered skulls. Save the Children reported that, in the first three months of the war, more than 10 children a day on average lost one or both legs, and UNICEF has documented over 1000 children enduring amputations.
“Gaza now holds the highest rate of child amputees per capita anywhere on earth.
“For these children, the injury is only the beginning. Several of our authors have worked in Gaza and witnessed this firsthand: wasted bodies cannot mount the metabolic response that healing demands.
“Wounds fail to close, surgical sites break down, and infection takes hold in patients with no physiological reserve to resist it. Malnutrition turns survivable injuries into fatal ones.”
Dr Parnis told Health Services Daily that the number of Australian doctors prepared to publicly support the letter in the petition was significant, but he believed many more were reluctant to do so.
The petition currently has more than 500 signatories, 87% verified as doctors, 10% medical students and the remainder from other categories.
“I think it would be a fair call to say that this is the tip of the iceberg, because there would be so many who would support the intent of the letter, but would hesitate to put their name on it because we are in a climate where there is confusion and fear about consequences,” he said.
Dr Parnis said he had personally experienced those consequences, including two complaints to AHPRA.
“I’ve been the subject of criticism on social media, which goes with the territory. That’s fine, but I have been the subject of complaint to the regulator, to AHPRA,” he said.
“I’ve been the subject of two complaints. The first in my 35 years [in medical practice], both of which were given the term ‘no further action’, which you hope is an acquittal, don’t you?”
He confirmed both complaints related to allegations of antisemitism arising from comments he had made in the media and on social media.
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HSD sought comment from AHPRA on two questions, including whether the regulator had received any notifications or complaints concerning this open letter, its organisers or signatories; and whether signing this specific letter could raise professional-conduct concerns under AHPRA’s rules.
While no direct response to these questions was offered, an AHPRA spokesperson told Health Services Daily the regulator remained committed to practitioners’ right to participate in public debate.
“AHPRA is committed to free speech and the right of registered health practitioners to enter into professional and public debates,” the spokesperson said.
“AHPRA is equally committed to the prevention of the harm caused by racism and discrimination.
“If commentary becomes demeaning or denigrating and directed toward specific members of the community, this is where AHPRA and the National Boards might undertake regulatory action.”
AHPRA pointed to its June joint statement with Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, noting that the envoy’s handbook distinguished between antisemitism and legitimate political debate, including on the topic of Israel.
The regulator has also stressed on previous occasions that notifications were considered individually. It has a dedicated section on its website providing further information about its ongoing work to combat racism and discrimination, including how it responds to concerns raised about registered practitioners.
Dr Parnis, a former AMA Victoria president and federal AMA vice-president, said that despite no further action being taken against him, going through the AHPRA complaints process had taken a toll.
“Those things are still painful and require detailed responses,” he said.
He said his advocacy had also affected his professional relationships.
“I have been treated with coldness and disdain by some colleagues,” he said.
“I’ve been accused of being a terrorist.”
Dr Parnis stressed that his criticism was directed at the Israeli government and military rather than Jewish people – although this was often overlooked, he said.
“My criticisms have been of the Israeli government and military, not of Jewish people or anyone else,” he said.
“But if that is enough to have me sanctioned from practicing medicine, then I don’t think I want to be a doctor anymore.
“I don’t recognise the values with which I was taught, and I despise the hypocrisy that I see on these things.”
He is no stranger to conditions in the war-torn region despite the fact his efforts to get to work in Gaza have so far been in vain.
In late December 2025, Dr Parnis travelled to Jordan with three other Melbourne-based medical specialists intending to spend three weeks providing clinical care, teaching and senior medical support in Gaza as part of a WHO-supported emergency medical team.
The group had undergone extensive preparation and received approval to travel, with Dr Parnis expecting to work at the heavily damaged Al-Shifa Hospital.
But after reaching the border, all four doctors were ordered back to Jordan, following the discovery of a laryngoscope, airway tubes and intravenous cannulae in one team member’s luggage, which the group was told fell under restrictions on medical equipment entering Gaza.
Dr Parnis described being denied the opportunity to provide care as “devastating”.
“I think I am still recovering from it,” he told HSD.
“The psychological impact of working in these circumstances is profound, even for someone who’s been around a long time.”
He said his position reflected principles he had held throughout his medical career.
“In some regards, I would say, with some evidence, that my principles haven’t changed,” he said.
“It’s just that the environment in which I espouse them has, and never before have I been subject to serious personal and professional attack for upholding the principles that I thought were non-negotiable.”
For Dr Parnis, the issue ultimately came back to doctors’ obligations to people in need regardless of politics, nationality or religion.
“You only need a pulse to qualify for medical care,” he said.
“I’ve treated prisoners, I’ve treated racists, I’ve treated people who the day before have been shouting abuse at me.
“You just stick to your principles, and the principles are this is a human being; they are in need of care.”
He is far from alone. The petition has been signed by some of Australia’s leading doctors and health professionals, spanning every specialty, general practice, medical student cohort and even pharmacists and allied health professionals.
Some not only signed the petition, but left comments that support the messages in the open letter.
“We took an oath on day one to take care of all patients and to work for the better of humanity. It is important we remain consistent in our moral compass,” wrote one medical student.
“My obligation is to protect children. This should apply to everyone, everywhere for every child. Children are not participants,” wrote a paediatric specialist.
“This is a matter of basic humanity and respect for the value of all lives, irrespective of beliefs,” wrote another specialist.
“I cannot stand by,” wrote a retired GP.
Dr Parnis’s comments about the fear of speaking up was also evident in the comments.
“Very concerned that we can’t even talk about it now,” wrote one surgeon.
“Please only include my initials rather than my full name,” said a physician.
The open letter concluded with a call to arms of a different kind.
“We do not need future memorials to tell us what we know today. We need action now, to stop the killing, protect children and save lives while lives remain to be saved,” the doctors wrote.
“History will remember where we stood. As doctors, and as human beings, we choose to stand with children, civilians and healthcare workers facing catastrophic harm. We call on every Australian, and every person of conscience, to do the same.”
Read the full open letter here.