A Pakistani airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul on March 17, 2026, killed at least three staff members and left the facility in ruins, according to Taliban officials, who condemned the attack as a violation of international law protecting medical facilities. The strike—confirmed by satellite imagery analyzed by the Amnesty International Crisis Evidence Lab—occurred as the Taliban government, now in its sixth year of rule, has increasingly accused foreign forces of targeting civilian infrastructure under the guise of counterterrorism operations. The hospital, operated by the Afghan Health and Social Welfare Ministry, was one of the few facilities in Kabul providing treatment for opioid addiction, a crisis exacerbated by years of conflict and economic collapse.
The attack underscores a global surge in violations of UN Security Council Resolution 2286, adopted a decade ago to protect healthcare workers and facilities in armed conflict. A new report by the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC), released this week, documented 2,546 reported incidents of attacks on health care in 33 countries in 2025 alone. Of these, 936 involved the killing, kidnapping, or arrest of medical personnel, while 790 targeted hospitals, clinics, or medical supply chains. The coalition’s findings—backed by data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Human Rights Watch (HRW)—reveal that state actors were responsible for the majority of attacks, contradicting claims by some governments that such violations stem primarily from non-state armed groups.
State Forces as Primary Perpetrators
UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted in a May 7, 2026 report to the Security Council that “the significant increase in violence against healthcare since 2016 has been driven by state forces”. The report cited Syria, Myanmar, Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine as flashpoints where governments or proxy forces systematically targeted medical infrastructure, often with impunity. In Syria, for example, HRW documented over 500 attacks on hospitals between 2016 and 2023, with the Assad regime and Russian airstrikes deliberately striking facilities marked with medical symbols. A 2024 Lancet study found that 70% of Syria’s public hospitals were non-functional due to destruction or staff shortages, leaving millions without access to basic care.
In Myanmar, the military junta has blocked medical aid since the 2021 coup, according to the MSF-CRASH database. Following the March 2025 earthquake—which killed over 1,500 people—junta forces seized medical supplies destined for opposition-held regions, while doctors reported being arrested for treating anti-coup protesters. The junta’s health ministry repeatedly denied access to international agencies, including the WHO, which described the situation as a “man-made crisis” in a May 2025 emergency declaration.
Gaza: A Collapse of Medical Infrastructure
The most acute crisis remains in Gaza, where HRW and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have described the healthcare system as “effectively destroyed”. Since October 2023, Israeli airstrikes and ground operations have hit at least 120 health facilities, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. In November 2025, the Al-Shifa Hospital—Gaza’s largest—was sealed by Israeli forces for six weeks, cutting off power and water to the facility amid ongoing military operations. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) labeled the siege a violation of Geneva Convention protections, noting that “medical personnel were prevented from treating patients”.
Water and sanitation infrastructure has been equally devastated. A UNICEF report from April 2026 found that 90% of Gaza’s water supply is undrinkable, leading to a cholera outbreak that has infected over 20,000 people since January. The WHO attributed the surge to deliberate targeting of water treatment plants by Israeli forces, a tactic HRW classified as a possible war crime.
Sudan: Hospitals Under Siege
In Sudan, the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has turned hospitals into battlegrounds. Since April 2023, over 300 health facilities have been attacked or looted, per the Sudan Health Cluster. In August 2025, MSF was forced to shut down its hospital in El Geneina after RSF fighters stormed the facility, firing into patient wards. The closure coincided with a cholera outbreak that had already infected 12,000 people in Darfur.
A March 2026 assault on the Al Deain Teaching Hospital in East Darfur killed at least 64 people, including patients and medical staff, according to witness accounts documented by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. The hospital’s director, Dr. Ahmed El-Tahir, told Reuters that “there was no military presence in the hospital—it was purely a civilian facility”. Neither the SAF nor the RSF has faced consequences for the attack, despite documented violations of international humanitarian law by both sides.
Ukraine: Weaponizing Healthcare
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen a deliberate campaign to undermine healthcare access in occupied territories. Since 2022, 2,665 health facilities have been damaged or destroyed, per the WHO’s 2026 situation report. In Crimea and Donbas, Russian authorities have replaced Ukrainian medical licenses with Russian ones, forcing doctors to renounce their oaths or face prosecution. The OSCE documented cases where patients were denied treatment unless they applied for Russian passports, a tactic the UN General Assembly condemned in a 2023 resolution as a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Meanwhile, Russian forces have targeted power grids and water infrastructure critical to medical operations. In December 2025, a missile strike on a Kyiv hospital killed 10 people, including children waiting for surgery. The attack occurred despite the hospital being marked with a red cross, a clear breach of Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits attacks on facilities “used for the treatment of the wounded and sick”.
International Law: Protections Eroding
International law grants absolute protection to hospitals, medical personnel, and patients unless they are directly participating in hostilities. Yet, as documented by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), “the distinction between legitimate military targets and protected health care is increasingly blurred”. The ICRC’s 2025 report found that 30% of attacks on health facilities involved prior warnings, suggesting deliberate targeting rather than accidental strikes.
Legal experts warn that the normalization of such attacks risks eroding the principle of distinction under international humanitarian law. Dr. Marco Sassòli, a professor of international law at the University of Geneva and co-author of the _Commentary on the Additional Protocols_, told SwissInfo that “when states repeatedly violate these protections, they create a climate where impunity becomes the norm”. The UN’s 2023 report on accountability found that only 3% of alleged perpetrators faced legal consequences for attacks on health care.
Diplomatic Deadlock
Efforts to hold violators accountable have stalled. On May 19, 2026, representatives from 120 UN member states and civil society groups gathered in New York for a high-level meeting on health care in conflict, organized by UN Peace Operations. While the meeting renewed commitments to Resolution 2286, no concrete enforcement mechanisms were agreed upon. The U.S., UK, and France called for “greater transparency in military operations”, but Russia, China, and several African and Middle Eastern states blocked proposals to establish an independent investigative body to probe attacks.
The Afghan Taliban delegation, present as observers, reiterated their condemnation of the Kabul hospital strike but did not name Pakistan as the perpetrator, instead blaming “foreign-backed militants”—a claim Pakistani officials denied. In a May 20, 2026 statement, the Pakistani Foreign Office said the strike was a “mistake” and pledged to “investigate and hold accountable those responsible”. However, no disciplinary action has been reported, and the Taliban have not requested an independent probe.
The SHCC’s 2026 report concludes that “without binding enforcement mechanisms, Resolution 2286 remains a moral statement rather than a legal obligation”. Human Rights Watch’s Julia Bleckner emphasized that “the data shows a clear pattern: states that violate these protections do so with impunity”. As of May 2026, no government has faced sanctions under the Arms Trade Treaty for supplying weapons used in attacks on health care, despite the treaty’s explicit prohibition on arms transfers that could facilitate violations of international law.
The next critical juncture will be the UN Security Council’s annual debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, scheduled for September 2026. Whether member states will move beyond rhetorical condemnations to enforceable actions remains uncertain. In the meantime, hospitals from Kabul to Gaza continue to operate under the threat of bombardment, their staff facing the choice between treating patients or fleeing for their lives.
