Attacks on hospitals and medics rising, driven by Middle East conflict, says World Health Organization

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that attacks on healthcare facilities and staff are increasing globally, with a notable uptick recorded since the recent conflict in the Middle East began.

Before the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran at the end of February, attacks globally on such facilities and staff averaged about 3.7 per day, but that has now increased to 4.3, the WHO said.

"This is clearly showing that healthcare is the target," Altaf Musani, the Director of Emergency Health Interventions at the WHO, told reporters in Geneva.

The attacks include airstrikes and shelling of hospitals and clinics as well as arrests and intimidation of healthcare workers.

"When healthcare is needed most, it is being attacked... These attacks are having a deep impact on functionality," Musani said.

Since the recent conflict in the Middle East began, 50 hospitals and private healthcare centres have been closed and 16 hospitals have been damaged across the region, according to the WHO.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has repeatedly denounced the attacks and has called for accountability, highlighted the case of Lebanon where 149 attacks on healthcare have been identified.

More than 2,500 people have been killed ​in Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon since March 2, when Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah fired on ​Israeli positions and triggered a retaliatory Israeli air and ground campaign. The United Nations Human Rights office said last month that Israeli strikes on civilians including healthcare workers in Lebanon may amount to war crimes.

Israel has repeatedly denied that it targets healthcare workers and says it is targeting Hezbollah sites.

There have also been 26 reported attacks on healthcare sites in Iran since the end of February, Ghebreyesus added.

Attacks on healthcare sites have also deeply impacted healthcare provision in Gaza, which currently has only one fully functioning hospital, and in Sudan, where only 54% of hospitals are fully operational, the WHO said.

-Olivia Le Poidevin/Reuters