This week we feature an article from the Journal of Interpersonal Violence:

Annihilated Families and the Politics of Mass Graves: Testimonies of Gazan Women After the Loss of Entire Kin Networks

which interviewed with 30 displaced Gazan women living in Rafah, explored how extreme violence is experienced and interpreted by women who survived the destruction of their entire kin networks.

From Doctors Against Genocide: ‍ ‍Campaign to release Dr. Abu Safiya and all healthcare hostages and launch the July 15 Hour of Action, we are asking you to: ‍ ‍1.      Record a short video, less than 1.5 minutes (best to record with your phone in vertical upright position - Portrait mode)‍ ‍
2.      Wear your scrubs or white coat if you are a healthcare worker‍ ‍3.      Share your commitment to this action, demand the release of Dr. Abu Safiya, and invite others to join‍ ‍We act on July 15 and every day before and after, until every healthcare hostage is free.‍ ‍

Fikr Shalltoot, Gaza Director for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), writes: "This has been a ceasefire in name only. What patients in Gaza urgently require is not rhetoric, but action: an end to the killing; the immediate and unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid; the lifting of punitive restrictions that have deliberately dismantled health care; and the beginning of Palestinian-led reconstruction of medical services.

Call your Congresspeople to demand they reject expansion of US-Israeli military cooperation! The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is authorizing a melding of the US-Israeli military-industrial complex, including co-production of weapons, AI coordination, and more, which will make US military support for Israel almost impossible to end. here ‍ ‍

Petition calls for boycott of Israeli Medical Association

The Lancet Numerous health organizations, including the People’s Health Movement (PHM), Artsen voor Gaza (Doctors for Gaza), and the Jewish Voice for Peace Health Advisory Council (JVP HAC) are calling for the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) to be suspended from the World Medical Association for “its failure to speak out against the genocide of Palestinians, the destruction of health-care infrastructure, and the torture and killing of health-care workers in Gaza.”

Demand Congress reject expansion of US-Israeli military cooperation! The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is authorizing a melding of the US-Israeli military-industrial complex, including co-production of weapons, AI coordination, and more, which will make US military support for Israel almost impossible to end. here ‍

‍Maternal and neonatal outcomes in a cohort of pregnant women during conflict, Gaza Strip from the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

This study assessed maternal and neonatal outcomes among 17,713 refugee women in the Gaza Strip who were pregnant on October 8, 2023. The pregnancy-related mortality ratio was 948 per 100,000 pregnancies, compared to a maternal mortality ratio of 30 per 100,000 live births prior to October 7, 2023.

Urge your Representative and Senators to enforce US laws governing foreign military assistance by cosponsoring 3 pieces of legislation:
--The Block the Bombs Act (H.R. 3565)
--The Food for Palestinian Children and Families in Gaza Act (H.R. 7565)
--The UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act of 2025 (H.R. 2411/S.898).

Click here for all 3.

We highlight the BMJ article: Factors influencing access to primary healthcare services for refugee children under five in the Palestinian West Bank: a qualitative study with female caregivers

5/15, Palestinians around the world mark 78 years since the start of the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing and forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homes that paved the way for the establishment of the State of Israel and the ongoing colonial settlement project across Palestine. The Nakba is not a historical event.

Children’s respiratory health risks in the Gaza war: a call to act‍ ‍

The Lancet Respiratory Medicine‍ ‍

This commentary discusses the widespread and prolonged exposure of children in Gaza to extreme levels of airborne pollutants generated by Israel’s destruction of Gaza. The authors emphasize that this exposure is occurring during critical periods of fetal and child lung development, contributing to what they term “siege pollution exposure respiratory syndrome.”

PHR Israel: has petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court of Justice demanding the immediate release of 14 Palestinian doctors from Gaza —including surgeons, pediatricians, and senior specialists — whose detention orders are currently issued under the Unlawful Combatants Law. ‍ ‍

Sunday, May 17, 2026 ‍
Fragile Crossings: 
The Pathways, Barriers, and Cost of Pediatric Medical Evacuations From Gaza

With Dr. Zeena Salman
Pediatric Oncologist
Cofounder HEAL Palestine

STOP the war in Lebanon! Will you demand Congress end this ethnic cleansing? Please sign our petition to support new policies I introduced to stop the U.S.-backed Israeli military’s illegal invasion of Lebanon.

 WHO’s Frontline Shift, Episode 3: Delivering Primary Healthcare in Gaza, explores how health workers delivered care amid access constraints, power outages, shortages of medical supplies, and hostilities, while working to maintain essential services. It also highlights the challenges they continue to face and the need to rehabilitate and rebuild the health system.‍ ‍

Use this tool from JVP Action to email Congress now and demand they support Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib's legislation to recognize Israel’s genocide in Gaza, end U.S. complicity in these atrocities, and demand accountability. 

This week’s update summarizes new publications on health and human rights in Palestine.

As predicted in our statement condemning the US/Israel attack on Iran, hospitals and other medical facilities have been repeatedly targeted. (Drop Site 3/2) The war has also diverted attention to the ongoing catastrophe in Gaza.

The JVP Health Advisory Council strongly condemns the illegal war launched by Israel and the United States against Iran. As health care workers, we understand clearly that imperialist wars of aggression historically have led to large numbers of civilians injured and killed, the destruction of civilian infrastructure including health care institutions, and the poisoning of the environment with toxic military detritus.

10/2023 to 1/1/26, 84 Palestinian prisoners and detainees of known identity, including one minor, died in Israeli prisons or detention facilities. B’tselem has issued a report, “Living Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps.”

Image credit