PHM Stands in Solidarity with the People of Lebanon facing military aggression
The People’s Health Movement (PHM) unequivocally condemns Israel's military assaults against Lebanon and the US backing that makes it possible. PHM expresses its unwavering solidarity with the people of Lebanon.
Hostilities escalated sharply on March 2, 2026, with extensive airstrikes across Lebanon, targeting the South, Nabatieh, Beirut, Bekaa, Baalbek-El Hermel, Mount Lebanon, and Akkar. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, at least 634 people have been killed and more than 1,586 injured. Children have been disproportionately affected, accounting for a significant and devastating share of casualties. These numbers are still rising.
Israel’s US-backed war against Lebanon has entered a new and dangerous stage with the start of a long-prepared ground invasion conducted under the umbrella of the widening imperialist war against.
This is not only a military escalation. It is a health catastrophe. Displacement is accelerating the internally displaced population may reach one million if this assault continues. Health infrastructure is being destroyed. Hospitals are overwhelmed. Health workers are on the frontlines of a crisis they did not create and cannot sustain alone. The strain on health systems, infrastructure, and basic services is severe and growing.
The humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating. Tens of thousands have been newly displaced, adding to an already massive internally displaced population that may soon reach one million if the escalation continues.
We stand in solidarity with our PHM-comrades in Lebanon who are active in relief efforts. They have reported to us that that the humanitarian impact of this crisis is extremely severe. According to their latest reports, on March 18, more than 2,141 people have been injured, and at least 886 people have lost their lives. On a daily basis, casualties continue to rise, with 36 deaths and 36 injuries reported in the latest update. Families are continuing to flee their homes every day, searching for safety and protection. Among the displaced are children, elderly people, pregnant women, and people living with chronic diseases who urgently need medical care and humanitarian support.
PHM asserts that these attacks are a grave violation of international law and of the fundamental principles of sovereignty and human rights. They occur within a broader context of US-Israeli imperialism across the region, including aggression in Palestine, Yemen, and Iran. Across these contexts, imperial and genocidal violence has led to the killing of civilians and health workers, mass displacement, and the collapse of essential health services.
PHM calls on health professionals, social movements, trade unions, political organizations and all people of conscience to act now and strongly condemn these attacks publicly and unite in resistance against imperialist violence and to stop the human and health catastrophe.
Our local PHM comrades testified about the immense needs of the population, particularly in:
- Primary healthcare services
- Medicines for chronic diseases
- Mental health and psychosocial support
- Support for women, children, elderly and disabled people
- Humanitarian assistance for displaced families in shelters
They are working in difficult circumstances because the number of displaced people continues to increase, while the available resources remain extremely limited.
PHM fully support and extend our solidarity with Lebanese health system organisations and civil society organisations in Lebanon, which are on the frontlines of responding to the crisis and sustaining affected communities under bombardment. We refuse complicity institutional, political, or professional in the normalisation of this imperialist war and violence. PHM reaffirms that the right to health cannot be separated from the right to life, to sovereignty, self-determination and freedom from occupation and war.