World Medical Association Condemns Attacks on Healthcare in Lebanon and Calls for Respect of Medical Neutrality Across the Middle East
The World Medical Association (WMA) expresses its grave concern over the recent and serious escalation of violence affecting health personnel, medical facilities and first responders in Lebanon. The WMA further draws attention to a broader and deeply alarming pattern of attacks on healthcare across the Middle East, one that demands urgent international attention.
Reports indicate that dozens of healthcare workers have been killed or injured in Lebanon since early March, with sustained damage to critical healthcare infrastructure and the enforced closure of hospitals. These developments are unfolding amid ongoing hostilities and unverified allegations concerning the misuse of medical facilities. The WMA wishes to make clear that international humanitarian law is absolute in its protections: health personnel, patients and medical facilities must be safeguarded at all times, under all circumstances, and by all parties to a conflict in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention.
Medical neutrality is not merely a principle of medical ethics, it is a binding obligation under international humanitarian law. Physicians and all other health professionals must be able to provide care with full impartiality, free from violence, intimidation or interference of any kind. Hospitals and ambulances are designated protected spaces and must never be treated as legitimate targets of military action.
“Health professionals must never become targets. They are present in conflict zones solely to save lives, not to be drawn into hostilities. Attacks on health personnel and infrastructure constitute clear and grave violations of international humanitarian law and endanger entire populations by denying them access to life-saving care.” stated Dr. Jacqueline Kitulu, President of the World Medical Association.
The situation in Lebanon reflects a wider and deeply troubling erosion of respect for medical neutrality across the region and beyond. Repeated attacks on healthcare in active conflict settings continue to endanger health professionals and patients alike, systematically undermining health systems and depriving vulnerable populations of their fundamental right to medical care.
The World Medical Association calls upon all parties involved in the conflict in Lebanon, and across the broader Middle East, to honour fully and without reservation their obligations under international humanitarian law, to ensure the comprehensive protection of health personnel, patients and medical infrastructure, and to guarantee safe, unimpeded and unconditional access to medical care for all civilians.
The World Medical Association stands in solidarity with health personnel who continue to provide care under conditions of extreme danger. The protection of those who dedicate their lives to caring for others is both a binding legal obligation and a moral imperative.
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