Health Care Under Fire: WHO Reports Alarming Rise in Attacks Across the Eastern Mediterranean Region
The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised serious concerns over the escalating violence targeting health care facilities and workers across the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). According to newly verified data, the first six months of 2026 witnessed a devastating wave of attacks that further weakened already fragile health systems in conflict-affected areas.
WHO confirmed that between January and June 2026, there were 369 verified attacks on health care across six countries and territories within the Eastern Mediterranean Region. These attacks resulted in 761 deaths and 1,084 injuries, highlighting the severe humanitarian consequences of violence against medical services.
Health Facilities Becoming Frontline Targets
Hospitals, clinics, ambulances, medical warehouses, and health personnel are increasingly finding themselves in the crossfire of armed conflicts. Rather than serving as safe havens for civilians seeking emergency treatment, many medical facilities have become direct targets of violence.
Every attack disrupts essential health services, damages critical infrastructure, and leaves thousands of people without access to emergency care, maternal health services, vaccinations, surgery, and life-saving medicines. The destruction extends far beyond physical damage, creating long-term setbacks for already vulnerable communities.
A Growing Humanitarian Crisis
The Eastern Mediterranean Region includes several countries facing prolonged armed conflicts and humanitarian emergencies. Continuous violence has forced millions of people to rely on overstretched health systems that struggle with shortages of medicines, medical equipment, electricity, fuel, and trained personnel.
Attacks on health care intensify these challenges by reducing the capacity of hospitals to respond to emergencies, disease outbreaks, and routine medical needs. Medical workers often continue providing care despite facing enormous personal risks.
Human Cost Beyond Statistics
The figures released by WHO represent more than numerical data. Every casualty reflects a patient who could not receive treatment, a doctor or nurse risking their life, or a family losing access to essential medical services.
Children, pregnant women, elderly individuals, and people with chronic illnesses are among those most affected when hospitals are forced to close or reduce operations. Interruptions in health care can lead to preventable deaths long after the immediate violence has ended.
International Humanitarian Law
International humanitarian law clearly protects medical facilities, ambulances, patients, and health workers during armed conflicts. Deliberate attacks on health care undermine these legal protections and threaten the principle of impartial medical care.
Global humanitarian organizations continue urging all parties involved in conflicts to respect the neutrality of health services and ensure that hospitals remain protected spaces where patients can receive treatment without fear.
WHO’s Call: Health Care Is Not a Target
Through its #NotATarget campaign, WHO continues to advocate for stronger protection of health workers and medical infrastructure. The organization stresses that safeguarding health care is essential not only for saving lives during emergencies but also for supporting long-term recovery and regional stability.
The agency also emphasizes the importance of documenting attacks, strengthening accountability, and ensuring humanitarian access so that medical teams can continue serving affected populations.
Looking Ahead
As conflicts persist across parts of the Eastern Mediterranean Region, protecting health care remains one of the international community’s most urgent humanitarian priorities. Without secure hospitals, functioning ambulances, and protected medical personnel, millions of civilians face even greater risks.
WHO’s latest findings serve as a stark reminder that attacks on health care are attacks on humanity itself. Preserving access to medical services is essential for reducing suffering, protecting civilians, and supporting future peace and recovery efforts.
