European and Latin American Physicians Declaration on the Protection of Life and Health in Gaza

Medicine cannot exist without access to healthcare and its professionals, and our Code of Ethics is founded on an unwavering commitment to patients’ health. From our professional perspective, the suffering endured by the Palestinian population has crossed an irreversible threshold, leaving consequences that will accompany survivors for the rest of their lives.

In line with our duty to patients, we denounce the situation of the civilian population— especially children, pregnant women, the sick, and healthcare professionals—who are suffering deadly consequences from the conflict: both direct, as victims of armed actions, and indirect, as victims of the deliberate blockade of food and healthcare.

If hunger kills, silence does as well. As physicians, coming from diverse geographical and sociopolitical backgrounds, we want our voices to raise awareness, inform, and help trigger decisions that can stop this disaster. Silence, omission, and indifference are not options for us—they contradict our professional duty.
 

We state unequivocally that:

1. We condemn the use of hunger as a weapon of war against civilians. Starvation structurally destroys the Palestinian population. Since this is not a logistical failure, the solution must be to ensure access to food. Deliberately causing death through preventable malnutrition can be considered a criminal act. 

2. We express our profound dismay at the killing of children and adolescents. We demand their immediate and special protection as a vulnerable civilian population. 

3. We warn about the impact on the health of an entire generation of children due to extreme hunger. Children in Gaza will be a lost generation, physically and psychologically conditioned by physical and psychological trauma and hunger. Childhood is a critical stage in which damage affects the development of important organs such as the brain, the immune system and the endocrine system. Minor infections in childhood are fatal in children with severe malnutrition. Emaciation leads to a decline in the development of children's abilities, which unfortunately will be irreversible and will condition their adult lives. The health and social repercussions of malnutrition will linger long after the conflict ends, impacting a generation that will suffer irreversible damage. 

4. We stress that food alone is not enough; unrestricted humanitarian corridors must be opened. The UN recently declared that the situation in Gaza has reached phase 5, or famine, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) alert. At this stage, healthcare intervention is essential to treat malnutrition, requiring vitamin complexes and other emergency supplements, as well as clean water for drinking and food preparation.

5. We strongly condemn the indiscriminate killing of physicians and healthcare workers, who have become targets of war in the performance of their duties, and the deliberate attacks on hospitals and health stations. We demand respect for health professionals and for facilities explicitly protected under international law. 

6. We denounce the critical conditions under which our medical colleagues and other health workers are forced to perform their duties. We raise our voices in defence of all our peers—doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, and other healthcare workers - killed while saving lives. Those who survive work to the limits of their strength, under pressure, malnourished, and without resources. We also express our deep concern for the mental health of our colleagues, who are practicing under extreme physical and emotional circumstances. 

7. We express our firm commitment to humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza and express our support for all statements issued by the World Medical Association (WMA) in relation to this conflict.

As physicians, we cannot bring about peace, but we are bound by our obligation to protect human life at every stage and to uphold the dignity of every patient. We call for urgent measures to end this catastrophe, of which we are witnesses to history.
Madrid, September 5th, 2025