Israeli military raids in West Bank target health care

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reports that Israel’s intensified military operations in the occupied West Bank have directly attacked and obstructed Palestinian health care, violating international law, The National reported on Febraury 6th

Since the Gaza war began in October 2023, attacks on hospitals, medical sites, and healthcare workers by Israeli forces have sharply increased.

As of January 2025, Israel confirmed the director of a hospital in northern Gaza was being held in a military prison, after being taken by Israeli troops.

Between October 7th 2023, and October 7th 2024, the World Health Organisation identified 647 attacks on health care in the West Bank, causing 25 Palestinian deaths and 120 injuries—up from 91 attacks and no deaths in 2022.

Many incidents targeted transport, but hospital compounds were also affected.

On December 14th 2023, Israeli troops shot and killed an unarmed boy at Khalil Suleiman Hospital in Jenin.

In January 2024, Israeli forces disguised themselves to enter a West Bank hospital and killed three patients—an act a UN expert panel suggested could be a war crime.

Israel claimed the men were militants.

MSF, which gives fuel, water and supplies to hospitals in the West Bank, urged Israel to end the “disproportionate and lethal use of force” against medical staff, patients, and hospitals.

The group also aims to urge Israel, as the occupying power, to ensure access to impartial medical care.

Meanwhile, Israel’s latest military operation, Iron Wall, launched on January 21st, has killed at least 50 Palestinians, displaced around 26,000 from Jenin and Tulkarm, and left Jenin’s refugee camp “almost uninhabitable,” according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Medical workers and patients in Nablus, Jenin, and Tulkarm have faced constant threats since the Gaza war began.

A Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulance driver said, “The Palestine Red Crescent Society vest is not a protection. Nothing can protect us. On the contrary, it puts us in even more danger.”

He added that his brother was beaten and arrested by Israeli forces for carrying a PRCS ID.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has justified military operations as necessary to “defeat terrorism.”

However, Israeli troops have restricted Palestinian access to health care, forcing patients to cancel treatments due to the risk of being killed while traveling, according to the MSF.

The UN recorded 790 obstacles in the West Bank as of June last year controlling people’s movement in the West Bank, including checkpoints and roadblocks.

Israeli forces have also destroyed roads, electrical supply, and water systems, impairing medical care.

Under international law, hospitals and medical personnel are protected.

The International Court of Justice ruled Israel’s occupation illegal in July last year.

“Palestinian patients are dying because they simply cannot reach hospitals,” said MSF emergency coordinator Brice de le Vingne.

One patient described how a journey took 13 hours during an Israeli incursion. “Israeli soldiers don’t care whether or not you are a patient,” the patient said.

The National