On January 30, Israeli security forces–disguised as medical personnel–raided a hospital in the West Bank city of Jenin and killed three Palestinian men thought to be affiliated with the terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Israeli military leadership justified the raid, saying that they would not allow the hospital “to become a place that is a cover for terrorism.” But NIF partner Physicians for Human Rights in Israel (PHRI), a human rights group whose work includes advocating for adherence to internationally-recognized standards of medical ethics, called it unethical and dangerous.
PHRI wrote on Twitter that “obscuring the ability to distinguish between medical personnel and impostors endangers staff safety and damages patient trust, both during the actions and subsequently…The military’s decision to disguise its forces as medical personnel is a direct extension of Israel’s disregard for the medical profession, exemplified by its destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system in recent months.”
PHRI has been at the forefront of ensuring that Israelis and those under Israel’s control receive adequate, ethical medical care for years. They run two volunteer-operated medical clinics: an open clinic in Jaffa offering free treatment to people without legal status in Israel, and a mobile clinic for underserved communities in the West Bank. PHRI also advocates for prisoners’ rights. They file petitions in the Supreme Court when prisoners are denied the right to medical care, and investigate reports of torture.
In the aftermath of the Hamas attack on October 7, PHRI set up a temporary clinic for the survivors of the Kibbutz Be’eri massacre, delivered medication and equipment to evacuees, and provided medical care to Thai migrant workers who survived the massacre. They also released a report that collected media reports of Hamas terrorists perpetrating sexual violence on October 7 and called on institutions to center the physical and emotional needs of the victims.