About Diagnosing the Barriers: The Right to Health in Israel and the oPt
PHRI is an Israeli non-profit organization that promotes the right to health for all people living in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) through the direct provision of medical care and policy change efforts.
One Year On: How the Gaza “Ceasefire” Has Failed to End the Genocide
On October 10th, 2025, Israel and Hamas declared a ceasefire agreement, ostensibly ending active hostilities in the Gaza Strip. One year later, much on the ground remains unchanged. While the rate of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza is far lower than it was at the height of hostilities, they are still carried out regularly, and nearly 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in the past year. Key civilian infrastructure remains decimated. The local healthcare system remains largely in ruins: not a single MRI machine is currently in operation in Gaza, dozens of medication types are unavailable, and 20 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially functioning. The majority of the population remains displaced, with some 1 million people still living in tents and inadequate conditions exposing them to serious health, safety, and dignity risks.
Though the world’s attention has largely moved elsewhere, conditions in Gaza remain unsuitable for the survival of its population of 2 million. On this grim anniversary, join PHRI’s Milena Ansari and Lee Caspi for a conversation about the current phase of the Gaza genocide and what needs to happen for it to end.
22 Sept 2026
From Kyiv to Tel Aviv: Working with Asylum Seekers and Beyond
“I saw how displacement can affect almost every aspect of a person’s life”.
Every year, PHRI’s Open Clinic for Status-less Individuals in Jaffa assists some 1,500 people who share one thing: they live in Israel yet aren’t Israeli citizens or residents, and therefore cannot access the country’s public healthcare system. Beyond that shared experience, their backgrounds and life stories vary widely: they come from dozens of countries and cultures, and their migration paths differ. Many of them are asylum seekers who cannot return home, where their lives might be at risk. For some, home is on the other side of the planet, while for others, it’s a few dozen kilometers away.
“Sometimes I meet people who are afraid to come out of the shadows and seek help. I remember a Palestinian woman who gave birth… at home, not by choice, but because going to a hospital felt dangerous”.
Join PHRI’s Lubov Borshevsky and Lee Caspi for a conversation about the intersecting vulnerabilities faced by migrants and what life is like away from social and legal support networks. In this episode, we will also explore some of Lubov’s personal circumstances and how she, originally from Ukraine, found herself working with these communities in Israel while war rages back home in Kyiv.
20 Aug 2026
What Happened at Rambam Hospital? Racism and Jewish Supremacy in the Israeli Healthcare System
“The system tells you... You can be Arab... but you need to be... “good Arabs”. The Arabs that do manage to build a career and get to a more senior position... need to be fine with the flag and the soldiers and the magnifying glass they’re constantly under. You need to accept that because you’re Palestinian, your career development will be more difficult, and you shouldn’t complain about it.”
On August 9th, allegations emerged against Rambam Hospital (Haifa), where four Israeli soldiers who had been wounded in Lebanon were admitted for treatment. One of the soldiers was in serious condition, and his family alleged that he had been “locked overnight” in a room with “only Arabic-speaking staff”, where he was mistreated.
This incident – where racist allegations accused Palestinian medical staff in an Israeli hospital of being “disloyal” and untrustworthy – is the tip of the iceberg, representing a far wider, more pervasive reality of silencing and persecution.
Join PHRI’s Shani Bar Tuvia and Lee Caspi for a conversation about this libelous incident, the response it met in the Israeli healthcare system, the public, and the media, and the much wider phenomenon it represents. In this episode, we delve into the daily experience of thousands of Palestinian medical workers in Israeli institutions, who are forced to lead their professional lives under a microscope. A reality where any perceived or real step outside the lines of what they are permitted to say, feel, and be, might damage their careers and professional prospects.
*For more background, listen to our previous episode on PHRI’s report on the silencing of Palestinian healthcare professionals in the Israeli medical system: https://rss.com/podcasts/diagnosingthebarriers/2433021 (https://rss.com/podcasts/diagnosingthebarriers/2433021)
Or read PHRI’s report on the subject: https://www.phr.org.il/en/report-hashtaka-eng/ (https://www.phr.org.il/en/report-hashtaka-eng/)
28 Jul 2026
West Bank Healthcare System Collapse
For years, Palestinian public healthcare workers in the occupied West Bank have been paid only a small portion of their salaries, leading to a strike by the Palestinian Medical Association announced in May 2026. Basic medications are partially or wholly unavailable at public Palestinian hospitals throughout the West Bank. Governmental clinics and hospitals are limiting services to emergency and life-saving interventions. Patients are unable to access treatment for a wide range of illnesses and conditions.
All this is occurring against the backdrop of Israeli authorities' intensified military operations across the West Bank, accelerated settlement expansion along with settler violence, blocking Palestinian laborers from entering Israel, and a significant increase in withholding Palestinian Authority tax revenues.
Join PHRI’s Milena Ansari and Lee Caspi as they delve into the roots of a public health crisis that has gone under the radar, despite the catastrophic implications for the millions of Palestinian residents in the West Bank. In this episode of Diagnosing the Barriers, we attempt to unpick an issue with multifaceted, intersecting origins, including primary Israeli control over Palestinian customs revenues, impacting every aspect of daily civilian life in the West Bank.
6 Jul 2026
Gaza Needs its Doctors – Release the 14
“Israel doesn’t just broadcast to the world ‘we have doctors that are held without any sort of charges for the past two years’; they’re not going to give that to the public on a silver platter. People need to inquire.”
Join PHRI’s Maha Loulou and Lee Caspi for a discussion about our campaign demanding the release of 14 doctors from Gaza who have been held by Israel, without charge and subject to grave torture and rights violations, for periods ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 years. We share some of their individual stories and what is happening behind bars, away from the public eye, to a group of highly skilled medical professionals who are desperately needed back home.
*For more background, listen to our previous episode on the systemic torture of medical personnel from Gaza in Israeli custody: https://rss.com/podcasts/diagnosingthebarriers/2187997 (https://rss.com/podcasts/diagnosingthebarriers/2187997)
Or read PHRI’s report on the subject: https://www.phr.org.il/en/torture-of-medical-workers/ (https://www.phr.org.il/en/torture-of-medical-workers/)
**This episode was recorded on June 1st, a mere two days before PHRI received a firsthand report from Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya's lawyer about his grave condition and the imminent threat to his life. While we work around the clock to try to save Dr. Abu Safiya and bring greater visibility to his case, we are continuing our efforts to release all 14 Gaza doctors still held in Israeli detention.
2 Jun 2026
No Alternatives for Gaza’s Patients
With no access to a functioning medical system, at least 18,500 patients from Gaza wait for medical evacuation by the World Health Organization. But, where to? While Israel argues the answer is third countries, Physicians for Human Rights Israel is pushing for evacuation to the Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This episode discusses the current healthcare situation in Gaza and the urgent need to reopen the medical evacuation corridor to the West Bank. Join PHRI’s Keren Shavit and Lee Caspi for a sobering discussion about the urgency of the situation – every delay risks thousands of lives and generates untold human suffering.
* In this episode, the term “antibiotic resistance” is used to refer to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which encompasses resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobial treatments.
** For background on the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system and the cascading effect described in the episode, see PHRI’s report “Destruction of Conditions of Life: A Health Analysis of the Gaza Genocide” - https://www.phr.org.il/en/genocide-in-gaza-eng/?pr=20812 (https://www.phr.org.il/en/genocide-in-gaza-eng/?pr=20812)
5 May 2026
Between Care and Control: A Conversation on Medical Ethics in Crisis
Medical systems are meant to protect life.
They rely on visibility: documentation, communication, accountability.
But what happens when those same systems fail to interrupt harm?
In this episode, we dive into two recent publications by Physicians for Human Rights Israel — one documenting deaths and disappearances in detention, and the other exposing the erosion of medical ethics inside hospitals.
Together, they raise a difficult question:
When harm is both produced and obscured — who is left to witness?
5 Mar 2026
Reproductive Violence: What Two Reports Reveal About Gaza
This episode brings together two independently researched reports — one by Physicians for Human Rights–Israel and one by Physicians for Human Rights — combining women’s testimonies and clinicians’ accounts to examine how attacks on health infrastructure, food deprivation, and restricted medical access in Gaza have reshaped pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn survival.
6 Jan 2026
The Coexistence Illusion: Palestinian Healthcare Workers in Israeli Institutions
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Shani Bar Tuvia about a new report based on dozens of interviews, shedding light on the silencing — both formal and informal — of Palestinian doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals in Israel's medical institutions.
We examine what happens when coexistence depends on erasure, and what this reality means for medicine, ethics, and identity within Israel’s healthcare system.
15 Dec 2025
Under Pressure: Shrinking Civic Space in Israel - Palestine
In this episode of Diagnosing the Barriers, we look at how civic space in Israel is rapidly shrinking—and what that means for human rights organizations and activists in Israel and Palestine, to try and operate under increasing political pressure.
18 Sept 2025
Genocide in Gaza: A Position Paper
In this episode, we sit down with Tirza Leibowitz, Deputy Director of Physicians for Human Rights–Israel, to talk about PHRI’s groundbreaking report “Genocide in Gaza.”
The paper made global headlines as—for the first time—Israeli human rights organizations openly accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. In this episode we examine how the report traces genocide through the systematic destruction of the basic conditions needed to survive: healthcare, food, water, and shelter.
Trigger warning: We discuss difficult issues, including attacks on hospitals, starvation, and the targeting of medical workers.
1 Sept 2025
Doctors Behind Bars: Torture and Starvation of Palestinian Healthcare Workers in Israeli Custody
In this episode, we dissect the new PHRI report “Unlawfully detained, tortured and staved: the plight of Gaza's medical workers in Israeli custody", with a powerful conversation with Maha Loulou, one of the report's authors. The report exposes the devastating realities faced by those on the frontlines of care who have been arrested, interrogated, or silenced for doing their work.
Trigger Warning: This episode includes discussion of difficult and painful issues, including imprisonment, torture, and the targeting of medical workers. Please listen with care.
29 Jul 2024
The Cost of Health: High Medication Payments for Israel's Most Vulnerable
Despite Israel having a public health care system, the cost of medication is at times a deterrent for many low-income and vulnerable populations who may have to choose between prescriptions or other necessities. In this episode, we will dive into the devastating impact that medication payment has on these populations – particularly the elderly and low-income and how Israel's current economic and social crises are exacerbating the issue. Many thanks to Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe for generously funding PHRI's project to provide much-needed medication and equipment for vulnerable individuals and communities in Israel.
For more information about PHRI, please visit our website https://www.phr.org.il/en/ (https://www.phr.org.il/en/).
6 Jun 2024
Ethics on the Edge: Inside the Sde Teiman Detention Facility
The Sde Teiman detention facility and adjoining field hospital were built to hold and treat an undisclosed number of Gazan detainees who were captured during the war. "Interns describe this place as heaven for practice because they can (carry out medical procedures) they're not trained for." In this episode of Diagnosing the Barriers, we will dive into what we know following whistleblower testimonies regarding the inhumane treatment and violations of medical ethics occurring at the Sde Teiman detention facility. For further insights, read our comprehensive position paper detailing the deeply concerning human rights violations reported at Sde Teiman: https://www.phr.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/5954_medical_ethics_Report_Eng.pdf (https://www.phr.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/5954_medical_ethics_Report_Eng.pdf).
For more information on PHRI, please visit our website at https://www.phr.org.il/en/ (https://www.phr.org.il/en/).
15 Apr 2024
Inside an Unprecedented Humanitarian Crisis: Gaza's Struggle for Survival
Since the onset of hostilities, the closure of all Israeli passages in and out of Gaza has profoundly intensified the crisis in Gaza, with Israel's stringent monitoring and restrictions on aid exacerbating the war's devastating impact. The situation has reached a critical point where, without immediate change, 1.1 million Gazans are on the brink of facing catastrophic levels of starvation. In this episode, we delve into the international legal frameworks governing such crises and analyze the imperative on Israel to facilitate the entry of crucial supplies, including food, water, and medical aid. Join us as we explore the urgent need for intervention and the pathways to alleviating the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
For more information on PHRI, please visit our website at www.phr.org.il (http://www.phr.org.il).
15 Apr 2024
Behind Bars: Systemic Rights Violations Against Incarcerated Palestinians Post-October 7th
In this episode, we delve into the worsening circumstances faced by incarcerated Palestinians in Israeli prisons and detention facilities in the wake of the severe lockdown measures enacted by the Israeli incarcerating authorities post-October 7th and during the war on Gaza. We shed light on the harrowing constraints and the systematic infringement of rights faced by Palestinians under Israeli custody, whether in official detention facilities or undisclosed military bases. For a more comprehensive overview and in-depth insights, read PHRI's report here: https://www.phr.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/5845_Imprisoned_Paper_Eng.pdf (https://www.phr.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/5845_Imprisoned_Paper_Eng.pdf).
For more information on PHRI, please visit our website at www.phr.org.il (http://www.phr.org.il).
15 Apr 2024
Under the Rubble: Healthcare Crisis in the oPt
This episode will delve into the devastating consequences of the Israel-Gaza war on the healthcare system in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt). It will discuss how deliberate targeting of medical facilities and personnel has exacerbated the plight of vulnerable communities in Gaza and the West Bank. Join us in envisioning the path toward reconstruction and healing in the (hopeful) post-ceasefire future. For further insights, read our comprehensive position paper detailing the harrowing assaults and lasting impact on the healthcare system: https://www.phr.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/investigate-israels-assault-eng.pdf (https://www.phr.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/investigate-israels-assault-eng.pdf).
For more information on PHRI, please visit our website at www.phr.org.il (http://www.phr.org.il).
11 Apr 2024
Left Behind: The Struggle of Status-Less Communities Post-October 7th
Explore the overlooked impact of October 7th, where Thai migrant workers found themselves excluded from the Israeli government's support programs for survivors of the Hamas attacks, despite many being directly affected by them. Learn about the realities facing Israel's status-less population (i.e. asylum seekers, work migrants and others), including the direct and indirect impact that October 7th and the State's response had, and how marginalized communities found themselves pushed even further to the fringes.
For more information on PHRI, please visit our website at www.phr.org.il (http://www.phr.org.il).
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