When You Bomb a Hospital, You Bomb Humanity

Issued by: Eti Elkiss Mizrahi, CEO, Reim Medical Diplomacy

INTRODUCTION

On June 18, the Iranian regime shattered one of the last sacred boundaries left in warfare: it targeted and struck Soroka Medical Center in Israel, a civilian hospital where the only battle being fought was between life and death, for the sick, the wounded, the elderly, and newborns. This was not just immoral. It was illegal.

LEGAL VIOLATION

Targeting of medical facilities is generally prohibited under international humanitarian law (IHL). This protection is outlined in various international agreements, most notably the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols.

The concept of "international mandatory rules" or "overriding mandatory provisions" is a key element in international law, particularly in areas like international arbitration. These rules are provisions that must be applied regardless of the governing law chosen by the parties to a contract, because they are considered crucial for safeguarding a country's public interests, such as its political, social, or economic organization.

The Soroka Medical Center is a fully functioning operational hospital, not a military base or where armed people are shielded. Therefore Iran’s action in bombing the Soroka Hospital is a direct violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Under International Mandatory Rule 20 Act, the targeting of medical facilities is strictly prohibited unless those facilities are being used for hostile purposes. Soroka was not. It was functioning as a fully operational hospital, not a base, not a shield. Iran’s actions are a direct violation of international humanitarian law.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Hospitals are legally and morally protected spaces under international law. If we do not stand up now, we set a horrifying precedent: that medical facilities are negotiable, that patients are expendable, and that war has no boundaries. If we allow missiles to fall on hospitals without consequence, we are not only abandoning the law, we are abandoning our humanity.

STATEMENT FROM THE CEO OF REIM

I write this not as a mother, not as a U.S. citizen, and not even as a witness to horror, but as the CEO of Reim Medical Diplomacy, a global humanitarian movement that has deployed millions of dollars in medical aid, sent American doctors, and delivered life-saving equipment into some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. At Reim, we believe that medicine knows no borders. We do not check passports. We treat humans, not politics. We send help when others send missiles. And we are here to say, this ends now.

CALL TO ACTION

To target a hospital is to strip away the last layer of what makes us human. If we do not rise against what just happened to Soroka, we lose the right to say we stand for human rights, justice, or even basic morality.

We demand:
• Condemnation of Iran’s strike as a war crime.
• Protection for all hospitals in all conflicts.
• Accountability through international law and public outrage.

Sign this petition if you believe:
• That no regime has the right to decide who gets to live or die in a hospital bed.
• That medical workers should wear scrubs, not flak jackets.
• That a hospital should never be a target.
• That what happened at Soroka is a global disgrace.

CONCLUSION

If we stay silent, we greenlight the next strike.
If we look away, we destroy the very idea of mercy.
If we fail to respond, we lose our humanity.

Let this be the moral boundary we defend at all costs. Let the world know that we will not allow hospitals to become battlegrounds. Not now. Not ever.

Eti Elkiss Mizrahi
Founder & CEO | Reim Medical Diplomacy