Across War Zones, targeting Healthcare has become a Strategy, not an Accident

( Global Voices ) – The bodies of 15 Palestinian rescue workers were recently discovered in Gaza, showing signs of execution-style killings. According to doctors on the ground, the workers were found with gunshot wounds to the head and their hands tied — disturbing indicators of extrajudicial execution. This massacre is the latest in a series of targeted attacks against medical personnel during Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, and a devastating marker of its disregard for international law with thousands of healthcare workers killed and hundreds abducted by Israel amid reports of torture.

A video found on the phone of one of the paramedics found in the mass grave shows their last moments and was presented to the United Nations Security Council.

The incident highlights not only a pattern of violence against healthcare workers and hospitals but also the near-total absence of accountability for Israel’s conduct in Gaza, where the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that acts of genocide are plausible. These systematic attacks violate core principles of international humanitarian law and reflect an increasingly normalized assault on the right to health in war.

A global trend of escalating violence

In recent years, the targeting of healthcare workers, hospitals, and health infrastructure in conflict zones has escalated alarmingly, particularly in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region. Nowhere has this been more devastating than in Gaza, where the systematic destruction of the healthcare system by Israel has reached unprecedented levels. By early 2024, over 761 incidents of violence against Palestinian healthcare had been recorded — equivalent to the total number of attacks in Sudan, Ukraine, and the Democratic Republic of Congo combined.

The 2023 report by the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition documented a 25 percent rise in assaults on healthcare facilities and personnel globally, making it the worst year on record. These included bombings, looting, and killings that paralyzed healthcare systems and left civilians without essential care. The report found that nearly half of these incidents were attributed to state forces. It identified clear patterns of violence against healthcare in places like Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and, critically, in Gaza.

“Conflicts where violence against healthcare becomes a consistent pattern frequently start with extreme levels of violence against the health system,” the report noted. In 2023, this trend was particularly stark in Manipur (India), Sudan, and Gaza.

Israel’s war on Gaza: Healthcare under siege

Israel’s bombardment and siege of Gaza have not only devastated homes and infrastructure but systematically dismantled its healthcare system. Hospitals and clinics have been bombed, medical convoys attacked, and healthcare workers abducted and killed. The Kamal Adwan Hospital, for example, was targeted in repeated airstrikes, and its director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, remains in Israeli custody where he has reportedly been mistreated. Al Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest medical complex, was also attacked and destroyed, with an investigation by Forensic Architecture revealing mass graves in the hospital grounds. 

By February 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that every hospital in Gaza was either damaged, destroyed, or rendered inoperable due to fuel shortages and attacks. The WHO had already documented 427 attacks on healthcare in Gaza and the West Bank by November 30, 2023, resulting in 566 deaths and 758 injuries.

Dozens of videos filmed by Israeli soldiers demolishing hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure have circulated online. One recent example is the destruction of the Turkish Friendship Hospital.

In March 2025, a UN investigation concluded that Israel’s destruction of reproductive healthcare facilities in Gaza — targeting maternity wards, IVF clinics, and restricting access to essential care — amounted to genocidal acts. The report detailed how these deliberate attacks, along with restrictions on food and medical supplies, have partly destroyed the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza. 

Israeli attacks on healthcare in Lebanon

Israel’s attacks on healthcare have extended beyond Palestine’s borders. During its attacks on Lebanon, from October 2023 to October 2024, Israel bombed 37 health facilities and killed 70 health professionals. By November 1, 2024, the toll had risen to 178 healthcare workers killed and 292 injured. A total of 243 ambulances, 84 clinics, and 40 hospitals were affected by Israeli attacks.

The WHO has noted that nearly half of the healthcare attacks in Lebanon resulted in fatal outcomes, making it the most deadly conflict for health workers globally in terms of mortality rate per incident.

“Hospital,” Digital, Dream / Dreamland v3 / ChatGPT, 2025

The sheer scale of these attacks has prompted international legal responses. In December 2023, South Africa filed a case at the ICJ accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. Numerous countries from the global majority have joined the suit. In 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Despite these moves, Israel has faced no sanctions or meaningful accountability from its Western allies. This impunity stands in stark contrast to the legal obligations of states under international humanitarian law and the Genocide Convention.

A broader pattern: Attacks on healthcare in Sudan, Syria, and Yemen

In Sudan, the ongoing conflict has led to significant damage to healthcare infrastructure. In the first 500 days of the civil war, nearly half of the hospitals in Khartoum were damaged, severely impacting medical care. A report documented damage to 41 of the 87 hospitals in Khartoum, violating international humanitarian law and pushing the already fragile health system to the brink of collapse, with 70 percent of health facilities inoperable in affected states.

An UntoldMag investigation revealed systematic attacks on hospitals in Al Fasher, targeting medical professionals and further decimating Sudan’s healthcare infrastructure.

Sudan has since lodged a case at the ICJ against the United Arab Emirates (UAE), accusing it of breaching the genocide convention by funding and arming the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) rebel group in Sudan’s ongoing war. Sudan alleges the UAE supported the RSF in committing genocide, murder, rape, and other human rights violations.

In Syria, the decade-long war has also witnessed extensive targeting of healthcare facilities and personnel, leaving the country with a battered and overwhelmed health system. In 2021, a report by the International Rescue Committee showed some of the devastating losses and attacks on healthcare in the country. Of the people surveyed in the report, 56 percent said they would be afraid to live near health facilities because they are targets.

In Yemen, the protracted conflict has led to numerous attacks on healthcare facilities by the Saudi-led coalition, further deteriorating the already fragile health system. The destruction of hospitals and clinics has left millions without access to essential medical services, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. Reports indicate Saudi Arabia and the UAE have conducted over 130 attacks on hospitals and healthcare infrastructure, violating international humanitarian law. 

The collapse of a legal and moral order

This increasing normalization of attacks on healthcare facilities and personnel reflects a crisis in the post-WWII world order, with international law, institutions, and protections under an unprecedented attack. 

Protections enshrined in international law — particularly the Geneva Conventions — are routinely flouted, especially by powerful states and their allies. While legal mechanisms like the ICJ and ICC offer glimmers of hope, they remain toothless without enforcement mechanisms and political will.

The ICC and ICJ cases, along with reactions from Western countries, highlight the lack of accountability for perpetrators. Without sanctions, legal action, and the end of political shielding for countries like Israel, the erosion of norms protecting civilians in conflict will continue — and with it, the further collapse of the fragile systems meant to protect life in times of war.

An emotional speech by pediatric intensive care doctor Tanya Haj-Hassan, who has worked in Gaza, reflects the dangers of normalizing attacks on hospitals and medical workers.

The normalization of attacks on healthcare is a direct consequence of this impunity. It reflects not only a collapse in global governance but a dangerous redefinition of what is permissible in war. As long as perpetrators face no consequences, hospitals will continue to be bombed, doctors will be treated as combatants, and the right to health will remain one of war’s earliest casualties.