Skip to content

Hospitals struck in Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza despite international law

newsJul 27, 202623200

Hospitals and medical workers in Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza have been struck despite international law that protects medical sites, with attacks rising sharply since 2021. On 4 June in Kherson, a drone struck an ambulance on the grounds of Luchansky city clinical hospital, wounding two people though both survived. The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition documented more than 2,500 incidents affecting healthcare in 2024 across 33 countries, a peak fueled by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s 2023 war in Gaza. Since Israel opened a new offensive in Lebanon in March, monitors recorded 247 incidents affecting healthcare and 148 health workers killed there; three hospitals in southern Lebanon were hit in one week, leaving about 150 wounded. Protections for hospitals date to the first Geneva Convention in 1864 and were reaffirmed by a UN security council resolution a decade ago, but experts say those protections are eroding as state actors increasingly treat healthcare as a military target. The Guardian notes that Russia and Israel often claim hospitals are used for military purposes while disclosing little evidence, and international humanitarian law requires verifying military objectives, assessing proportionality and issuing warnings before strikes. Emergency doctor Rohini Haar warned that failure to protect hospitals risks the breakdown of broader international law on wartime conduct.

1 source