WHO chief warns Middle East conflict increasingly endangering health services

2026-03-04 - 10:02

The head of the World Health Organization issued a stark warning Tuesday about the growing toll the escalating Middle East conflict is taking on medical services and personnel throughout the region. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed deep concern following a deadly incident in southern Lebanon that claimed the lives of three paramedics and left six others wounded. Lebanon paramedic deaths Tedros said he was "saddened" by developments in Lebanon, where medical workers were killed and injured while attempting to recover people wounded in explosions in the southern district of Tyre. The incident highlights the extreme dangers faced by health professionals operating in active conflict zones as the regional war expands beyond traditional battlefields into civilian infrastructure. Growing risks for medical personnel "The risk that more health workers will count among the casualties is high. This must be avoided at all costs," Tedros emphasized, stressing that paramedics, doctors and nurses must be allowed to carry out their life-saving work, particularly during crises. His warning comes as the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, now in its fifth day, has killed nearly 800 people including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of senior commanders, with Iranian retaliatory strikes targeting Gulf states and Israel. Call for humanitarian law compliance Tedros urged all parties involved in the fighting to respect international humanitarian law and ensure the protection of medical staff, facilities and patients. "Warring parties must abide by international humanitarian law and protect health workers, facilities and patients," he stated, appealing for restraint amid escalating regional tensions. "I call for the utmost restraint and for voices of wisdom and peace to rise above the sound of bombings." Regional health crisis looms With the conflict expanding across multiple fronts—from Gaza to Lebanon, Iran to the Gulf—health systems throughout the region face mounting pressure. The WHO chief's intervention underscores growing international concern that the human cost of the conflict will extend far beyond combat casualties to encompass broader public health impacts as medical infrastructure comes under threat.