ISTANBUL

A group of 152 American medical professionals who volunteered in Gaza over the past nearly two years called on President Donald Trump on Wednesday to end US support for Israel’s attacks on the enclave, citing firsthand experience working in its hospitals during the war.

In a letter to Trump, they said Washington should immediately end its military, economic and diplomatic support for the “ongoing destruction” in Gaza and back an international arms embargo on all warring parties, describing the move as “the right thing to do” and saying it is required under US and international law.

“Today we beg you to hear the cries of Gaza’s children that our consciences will not let us forget. We cannot fathom why our government continues arming Israel while its armed forces kill children en masse,” they said.

The group said the scale of violence against Gaza’s civilians is “unlike anything any of us has ever seen.”

The health workers said they routinely treated severely injured children in Gaza, including cases of burns, dismemberment, gunshot wounds and other trauma, adding they even witnessed these injuries in fetuses whose mothers were killed by “American-made bombs dropped on them by Israeli forces.”

“Most of us saw pre-teen children shot in the head or chest on a regular basis, often multiple times per day,” they said.

The group said those who have worked in Gaza since May, when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed civilian-led initiative ostensibly focused on delivering aid directly to the Palestinian population, began operations, witnessed mass killings by shooting, shelling and bombing of people seeking food, calling the GHF a “humanitarian abomination” and accusing it of being a “uniquely cruel tool of coercion” funded by American taxpayers.

They also cited two American contractors who witnessed Americans shooting Palestinian civilians indiscriminately and hiding evidence of crimes against humanity.

On May 27, Israel launched a separate aid distribution scheme through the US-backed GHF, bypassing the UN and international humanitarian agencies.

Since then, nearly 2,600 people have been killed and 19,000 injured by Israeli fire while collecting aid at distribution points.

The health workers said nearly everyone in Gaza -- including aid workers, volunteers and possibly Israeli hostages -- was sick, injured or severely malnourished, with widespread starvation deaths, overwhelmed hospitals, rampant infections, high risks to newborns from malnutrition and lack of clean water, and fast-spreading epidemics among displaced populations.

They said their colleagues lost consciousness at work from malnutrition and dehydration while eating almost nothing to provide food for their children.

“Without an immediate ceasefire to facilitate a massive influx of aid, deaths from starvation will increase rapidly in the coming months. The token gestures that Israel has taken in response to American and international pressure are entirely inadequate,” they warned.

The group said Israel has attacked every major hospital and most clinics in Gaza, with health care workers killed by bombs and bullets, often inside the hospitals, calling the attacks on the health care system “simply unprecedented in world history.”

“These are crimes of the highest order. Our own government’s support for them is intolerable,” they underscored.

The group urged that all crossings between Israel and Gaza, including the Rafah crossing with Egypt, be reopened immediately to allow unrestricted aid delivery by recognized international humanitarian organizations.

They also called for the GHF to be defunded, its leaders investigated for violations of US and international law, and aid security screenings to be managed by an independent international body with clear guidelines and a mechanism to challenge prohibited items.

The group also said a minimum of 15 liters (4 gallons) of potable water per person per day must be allocated to Gaza, and full access for medical personnel and supplies, including personal medical equipment, must be restored.