19/06/2025Dr. Otmar Kloiber Dr. Ashok Philip Dr. Jack Resneck
World Medical Association
Prof Zion Hagay President
Israeli Medical Association
Dear Colleagues,
The eyes of the entire world should be turned this morning to Soroka Medical Center, to understand what a war crime truly looks like.
Soroka Hospital in Beersheva, one of Israel's largest medical centers with almost 1200 beds, and the main teaching hospital serving most of southern Israel, was deliberately targeted and hit by an Iranian missile. The hospital, a Level-1 trauma center, sustained extensive damage, prompting suspension of most services.
Under the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law, hospitals are protected sites. Intentionally targeting them—when they are not being used for military purposes—is strictly prohibited and classified as a war crime. Unlike many hospitals in Gaza which have tragically been conscripted by the Hamas, the strike on Soroka is an entirely unjustified attack on civilians.
The fact that the hospital serves a million residents, including vulnerable communities, and now cannot receive most incoming patients highlights the grave humanitarian impact.
Only thanks to the proper preparedness of Soroka Medical Center and their prior experience with missiles from Gaza, was a much greater disaster averted.
This event is alarming and merits serious international scrutiny and accountability measures.
I call on the international medical community to strongly condemn this atrocity committed by Iran.
Sincerely,
Full Letter
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