A decade after the UN demanded protection for medical care in war, attacks on hospitals, health workers, patients and humanitarian aid continue with devastating impunity.

On 3 October 2015, a US gunship repeatedly fired upon the Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) trauma centre in Kunduz, Afghanistan. The attack – which occurred during a Taliban attack on other parts of the city – killed 42 people, including patients, medical staff and caretakers, and destroyed the only major trauma hospital serving north-eastern Afghanistan.

This infamous attack demonstrated a dangerous erosion of respect for the protected status of hospitals under international humanitarian law (IHL) and, together with widespread attacks on health facilities in Syria and Yemen, it became a major catalyst for United Nations Security Council action. The Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2286 on 3 May 2016 – a strong political reaffirmation that medical care must be protected in war.

A decade after this resolution was adopted, attacks on healthcare have not decreased. Instead, every year there have been thousands of attacks on hospitals, clinics, ambulances, patients and health workers. Thousands of healthcare workers have been killed, injured, detained or abducted during this ten-year period. Violence reached record levels in 2023 with 2,562 documented incidents across 30 conflict-affected countries and territories. More humanitarian workers were killed in 2024 than in any previous year, with 383 killed in total.

During conflicts, attacks on healthcare are no longer exceptional events. Hospitals are bombed, ambulances are purposefully delayed or attacked, health workers are treated with suspicion, and patients are denied the care they need. The issue is that the immediate horror of each attack is further compounded by the long-term collapse of access to lifesaving care.

MSF has seen this pattern in many places where we work, including Gaza, Sudan, South Sudan, Ukraine, Myanmar and Lebanon. In the last decade, 21 MSF staff have been killed while carrying out........

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