In conflict after conflict, from Gaza to Sudan, one horrifying pattern has reappeared again and again: hospitals under attack, medical staff being targeted, patients being killed in their beds. What was once thought of as an outrage, an emergency rarely happening in “modern war,” is becoming tragically common. And in 2024, according to multiple reporting sources, it was the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers.
The scale of the crisis in numbers:
In 2024, 383 aid workers were killed, a sharp increase from previous years, making it the highest toll since this kind of data has been tracked. Hospitals and medical facilities are being caught in crossfire (or deliberately targeted). In Gaza alone, the WHO has documented over 720 attacks on healthcare, with hundreds of health workers killed, many more injured. In Sudan, over 80 % of health facilities in many conflict zones are non-operational. The Ibrahim Malik Hospital in Khartoum, for example, used to be a key provider of maternal/ neonatal health. It’s now shut down due to damage. In South Sudan, MSF hospitals have been bombed, one recent attack in Fangak destroyed medical infrastructure used by tens of thousands, patients died, staff injured, clinics destroyed.
Why this is more than Just “Collateral Damage”?
Attacking healthcare is not only morally abhorrent, it violates established international rules. Under International Humanitarian Law (IHL), including the Geneva Conventions, medical workers, hospitals, ambulances and patients are protected. They must not be intentionally attacked. There is the principle of medical neutrality: medical personnel and facilities must be allowed to carry out their work, treat the wounded, sick, and vulnerable, regardless of which side they are on. When that is violated, the very idea of impartial humanitarian care is under threat. Even “collateral damage” cannot be an excuse when rules of distinction, proportionality and precaution are ignored. Destruction of health systems devastates communities, not just in the moment, but for years afterward. Broken hospitals mean maternal deaths and infectious diseases unchecked.
There are stories that cannot be forgotten. In Gaza, childbirth sometimes must happen in hallways because maternity wards are under direct fire. Midwives and health workers work without electricity or water, their tools, their operating theatres, even their personal safety stripped away. In Sudan, the Saudi Maternal Teaching Hospital in El Fasher, one of the few remaining functioning hospitals was hit by a drone attack, killing many, wounding more, destroying wards. MSF’s hospital in Fangak, South Sudan, was under aerial bombardment, with the pharmacy destroyed, patients killed or injured. These are not abstract statistics. These are doctors, nurses, mothers, babies, fathers, people trying to live, to heal, to love, to be safe.
When hospitals become battlefields, something fundamental about our shared humanity is under attack. International law is clear: Hospitals and clinics are protected places. The targeting of medical staff such as killing, detaining, torturing is prohibited. Patients, too, must be safe when seeking healthcare.
What we risk if we are silent? It is easy to feel overwhelmed. To look at headlines, see yet another hospital bombed, yet another medical worker killed and to turn away and to become numb. But silence is complicity. Normalising these attacks makes them more likely to continue. When accountability is absent, when governments or armed groups act and evade justice, the danger grows. When health infrastructure is destroyed, the long-term damage ripples outward: disease, malnutrition, loss of life long after the ceasefire.
We cannot afford to lose hope. We cannot afford indifference. Because every hospital destroyed, every doctor silenced, every patient killed is a blow to the idea that we are bound by something greater than fear, by laws, by common decency, by humanity.
We can demand change. We can demand accountability. We can ensure that the voices of those suffering are not drowned out. One concrete thing you can do: sign a petition urging governments to uphold and defend the protections given by international humanitarian law; to publicly condemn attacks on healthcare services; and to ensure action when violations occur.
When the world shakes, it’s easy to feel powerless. It’s easy to look away, to say “there’s nothing I can do.” But turning a blind eye lets horrors harden into habits. Let us stand for what should never be: a hospital turned into a target, patients fearing for their lives inside beds meant to heal them. Let us remember: humanity demands more.
You can sign the petition to demand protection for healthcare in conflict zones here:
