Urgent health update: Consequences of war on Gaza, the West Bank/East Jerusalem, and Lebanon - May 23, 2026
In case you missed this:
The APA Gave Him A Human Rights Award. Then They Cut His Microphone For Talking About Gaza.
JVP Health Advisory Council strongly recommends you read this article and register for the webinar on 5/24. The leadership of mainstream medicine has repeatedly silenced voices speaking about health and human rights in Gaza. This is a particularly outrageous and egregious example. This must stop.
Sign up for the webinar now! Support Dr. Malik! Refusing to recognize a genocide is unethical. It is time for all of us to join the resistance and keep Gaza alive.
Register here: https://doctorsagainstgenocide.org/events
Journal articles
As a reminder, we are changing the way in which we organize and share peer-reviewed health-related literature on Palestine. We created thematic article collections that are stored in PubMed to make searching and filtering easier. The collections currently include articles published between January 1, 2026 and May 23, 2026. We are working to add articles published in prior years, and we will update the collections with new articles on a bi-weekly basis.
Publications from the past two weeks include:
Armed Conflict and Penetrating Traumatic Brain Injury in Children in the Gaza Strip
This article assessed functional outcomes at hospital discharge among children and adolescents who sustained penetrating TBI between January 1, 2025, and September 30, 2025 in the Gaza Strip. Shrapnel was the most common injury mechanism (91%). Favorable outcomes were observed in roughly half of patients (49%), and 30% of patients died. "The high volume of trauma patients, compounded by ongoing bombings in the immediate vicinity of the hospital, severely overstretched surgical facilities, necessitating strict prioritization limiting neurosurgical care. Critical shortages of neurosurgical equipment and basic surgical supplies further constrained treatment capacity."
BMJ Global Health
This article explored caregivers' experiences accessing primary healthcare services for children under five. Interviews were conducted in three refugee camps in the West Bank between May-September 2025. "The study identified service interruptions, medication stockouts, lack of safety and inadequate communication as major barriers. It also revealed major facilitators, including physical proximity to clinics, female autonomy and trust in providers and services." There is a critical "need for safeguarding funding for paediatric services and addressing the structural and political determinants of low access. Digitalisation of communication and information dissemination should rely on a participatory, user-centred approach."
Additional articles can be found in the following collections:
Hospitals, health care, and health infrastructure
Public health and medical workforce
Institutional silence, repression, and complicity
Infectious and communicable disease
You can still access our article summaries for articles published between April 2025 – March 2026 here.