Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) submission to the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for the Draft General Comment on the Application of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Situations of Armed Conflict (May 2026)
May 29, 2026
Attacks on Health Care, Children's Rights, Reproductive Justice, Sexual Violence
The war between the United States, Israel, and Iran has continued to escalate over more than a month, with impacts expanding across the region and beyond. Physicians for Social Responsibility, Physicians for Human Rights, and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War renew our call for an immediate end to all fighting and a return to negotiations for […]
U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure, including oil refineries, gas treatment facilities and fuel storage depots, pose severe health and environmental risks to civilian populations in Iran, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) warned today. All parties to the conflict must cease attacks on energy infrastructure that lead to widespread […]
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) in the United States (co-publishing with the Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School [GHRC]) and Physicians for Human Rights -Israel (PHRI) published two independent reports documenting the severe harm to women and children’s health in Gaza since October 7, 2023, when Hamas’ brutal attacks on […]
Executive Summary After Hamas’ brutal October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, subsequent Israeli military operations in Gaza have caused devastation and displacement. Beginning early in the conflict, humanitarian actors and civil society raised significant concerns about the likely impact on the health and survival of pregnant women1 and infants – two groups granted specific protection […]
Israel must urgently allow food, medicine, and aid to reach people in Gaza, notwithstanding the downgrading of food insecurity conditions in Gaza to Level 4 (Emergency) from Level 5 (Catastrophe) by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) today, said Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School (GHRC). PHR and GHRC have interviewed scores of clinicians in Gaza […]
Israel must immediately lift its restrictions on food to some 2 million people in Gaza – including the entire population of 320,000 children under the age of five – and ensure the delivery of medical supplies and other aid necessary to address mass starvation, said Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Global Human Rights Clinic […]
The Israeli government’s restrictions on medical supplies entering Gaza have led to preventable suffering and death, according to a new study published today by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Global Human Rights Clinic (GHRC) at the University of Chicago Law School. “Throughout this war, Israel’s limits on life-saving medical supplies – such as […]
July 9, 2025
Attacks on Health Care, Persecution of Health Workers
At every point in their effort to provide care in Gaza, volunteer health care professionals face systematic practices and policies that directly impact their ability to prevent suffering and loss.
What does international law say about access to medical supplies in conflict zones? What is the obligation of parties to a conflict to ensure access to health care supplies? Medical supplies are never to be used strategically in warfare. In times of conflict, all parties to the conflict must both “allow and facilitate rapid and […]
