Readers respond to articles about health care in Gaza

The editors respond:

The preceding letters are representative of the approximately 275 letters that CMAJ received following the publication of a recent News article 1 and Dispatch from the Medical Front. 2

As with previous articles that CMAJ has published about health issues in war zones, 3 neither article forayed into geopolitical debate about the root causes of the conflict. In keeping with this policy, the News article primarily quoted sources from international aid organizations, while the Dispatch was a first-hand, front-line account by a staff member of Médecins Sans Frontières, which was providing humanitarian aid and medical treatment in Gaza. In retrospect, publishing 2 articles on this subject in 1 issue, albeit normal in news organizations, may have made it appear that CMAJ was taking an editorial position on the Arab–Israeli conflict. This is certainly not the case.

We have now received, and will soon publish, several Dispatch articles with interesting perspectives on the health-related consequences of the Middle East conflict in Israel.