Physicians for Human Rights-Israel
An Israeli nonprofit organization that advances the right to health through medical assistance, human-rights advocacy, research, and legal action.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
Physicians for Human Rights–Israel (PHR-I) is an Israeli nongovernmental, nonprofit organization founded in 1988 by physician Ruchama Marton. Based in Jaffa, it works at the intersection of medicine, human rights, and social justice. Its stated objective is to promote a society in which the right to health is protected equally for all people subject to Israel’s responsibility, including Israeli residents, Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory, prisoners and detainees, migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and people without recognized civil status. The organization combines direct medical assistance with policy advocacy, documentation, public campaigning, and litigation. Its work is generally initiated through individual complaints, patient testimonies, referrals from medical professionals, or information about alleged restrictions on access to care. PHR-I engages institutions including the Israeli Prison Service, health funds, the Ministry of Health, the Israel Defense Forces, district coordination authorities, and courts. It also publishes reports on barriers to treatment, detention and prison medicine, movement restrictions, medical access in the West Bank and Gaza, and unequal health provision within Israel. Two of its best-known service programs are the Open Clinic and the Mobile Clinic. The Open Clinic, established in 1998 at the organization’s Jaffa headquarters, provides primary and specialist medical assistance, referrals, and follow-up care to migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and other people who lack ordinary access to Israel’s health system. It is staffed by volunteers and is intended both to assist patients and to demonstrate the consequences of policies that link healthcare access to immigration or residency status. The Mobile Clinic, established in 1988, brings Israeli and Palestinian medical personnel together to provide primary care, medicines, and referrals in rural communities in the West Bank. PHR-I has worked with Palestinian Medical Relief Society and other local partners in this area. PHR-I’s advocacy is organized around several broad constituencies. Its Occupied Palestinian Territories work addresses restrictions on movement and treatment, access permits, conditions affecting patients at crossings, and healthcare in Gaza and the West Bank. Its Migrants Department supports people without civil status and advocates universal access to healthcare for children, reform of private medical insurance, and protection from deportation when serious illness is involved. Its Prisoners Department handles complaints from criminal prisoners, security prisoners, and detainees, and examines alleged denial of treatment, torture, and the professional responsibilities of medical personnel in detention settings. Its Residents of Israel work focuses on disparities in the Israeli health system, co-payments, public-health legislation, and healthcare in unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev. The organization takes a critical position toward Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and has been associated with left-wing human-rights politics. This has generated conflict with some Israeli political and professional bodies. Ruchama Marton has supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and PHR-I has opposed Israel’s anti-boycott legislation. The Israel Medical Association severed ties with PHR-I after disputes involving Marton and criticism of the organization’s political orientation, although the two organizations later participated in some overlapping legal and ethical initiatives, including challenges to force-feeding legislation and advocacy concerning medical triage and migrant children’s health insurance. PHR-I received the Right Livelihood Award in 2010 for its work on the right to health in Israel and Palestine. The organization reports a membership exceeding 1,500 and describes its staff and volunteers as including Jewish and Arab health professionals and human-rights activists. It cooperates with medical and human-rights groups in Israel, the Palestinian territories, and abroad, including legal clinics associated with Tel Aviv University. In July 2025, PHR-I and B’Tselem jointly published a report alleging that Israel’s conduct in Gaza constitutes genocide. That assessment is a position expressed in the report and remains part of a highly contested political and legal debate.
History
Physicians for Human Rights–Israel was established in 1988 by physician Ruchama Marton. From its beginning, the organization treated health as a human-rights issue rather than solely as a clinical or administrative concern. Its initial and continuing work has included cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian medical professionals, assistance to patients facing barriers to treatment, and public criticism of policies that the organization considers inconsistent with medical ethics or the right to health. The Mobile Clinic project dates from the organization’s founding period. It has operated in rural parts of the West Bank with Israeli and Palestinian health workers, providing primary care, basic medicines, and referrals. Palestinian Medical Relief Society has been described as a long-standing partner. The project has served both a practical and an advocacy purpose: it addresses gaps in local access while drawing attention to the effect of movement restrictions, occupation, and unequal infrastructure on health outcomes. PHR-I later expanded its work within Israel. The Open Clinic was founded in 1998 by volunteer physicians at the organization’s Jaffa headquarters. It was created in response to the limited access to healthcare experienced by migrant workers and other people without recognized civil status. Over time, its patients increasingly included refugees and asylum seekers. The clinic provides primary and specialist care, hospital referrals, and follow-up, generally without charge or for a minimal fee. Its volunteer model allows the organization to deliver care while documenting structural barriers in Israel’s health and immigration systems. The organization developed specialized departments addressing four principal areas: the Occupied Palestinian Territories, migrants and undocumented people, prisoners, and residents of Israel. The occupied-territories department handles cases involving treatment permits, access to hospitals, movement restrictions, detention-related medical concerns, and health conditions in the West Bank and Gaza. The migrants department advocates healthcare access independent of civil status, universal coverage for children, changes to private insurance arrangements, and safeguards for seriously ill people facing deportation. The prisoners department receives complaints from detainees and prisoners and researches medical treatment, torture, prison healthcare, and the role of physicians in detention. The Residents of Israel department focuses on inequality, co-payments, public-health legislation, and healthcare access in unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev. PHR-I’s approach has frequently brought it into conflict with government policies and established professional institutions. It has opposed the occupation of Palestinian territory and criticized restrictions on movement and access to medical care. It has also campaigned against detention policies, privatization of prison healthcare, and legislation it believes weakens universal health protection. The organization opposed Israel’s anti-boycott law and stated that it would not comply with it. Its political positioning led to criticism from Israeli groups and to a rupture with the Israel Medical Association after disputes involving Ruchama Marton and Yoram Blachar. Despite that conflict, PHR-I and the association later appeared together in legal and ethical efforts, including a 2016 challenge to force-feeding legislation and a 2019 case concerning subsidized health insurance for undocumented migrant children. International recognition came in 2010, when PHR-I received the Right Livelihood Award for its work on health rights in Israel and Palestine. The organization has continued to combine volunteer clinical work with research, legal intervention, and cooperation with other medical and human-rights organizations. It also maintains links with legal clinics at Tel Aviv University. In July 2025, PHR-I and B’Tselem published a report alleging that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, extending the organization’s longstanding practice of using medical documentation and human-rights analysis to address the consequences of armed conflict and state policy.
- 2025
Gaza report with B’Tselem
[1]PHR-I and B’Tselem published a report alleging that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide.
- 2019
Migrant children’s insurance case
[1]The Israel Medical Association joined PHR-I’s appeal concerning the removal of subsidized insurance options for undocumented migrant children.
- 2016
Force-feeding law challenge
[1]PHR-I and the Israel Medical Association both petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court against legislation permitting force-feeding of prisoners.
- 2010
Right Livelihood Award
[1]PHR-I received the Right Livelihood Award for its work defending the right to health in Israel and Palestine.
- 1998
Open Clinic established
[1]Volunteer physicians opened a clinic at PHR-I’s Jaffa headquarters for migrants and other people lacking recognized civil status.
- 1988
Organization founded
[1]Physician Ruchama Marton founded Physicians for Human Rights–Israel to advance the right to health through medical and human-rights work.
- 1988
Mobile Clinic project begins
[1]PHR-I established its Mobile Clinic work in the occupied Palestinian territory, bringing Israeli and Palestinian health professionals together in rural communities.
Products and positioning
A medical-human-rights organization that uses healthcare delivery, professional ethics, documentation, litigation, and public advocacy to challenge unequal access to health services and alleged violations of the right to health.
Community healthcare · 1998
Open Clinic
A volunteer-run clinic at PHR-I’s Jaffa headquarters serving migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and other people without recognized civil status. It offers primary and specialist medical care, referrals to hospitals, and follow-up treatment, generally free or at minimal cost. The clinic also functions as an advocacy and documentation platform, highlighting the health effects of exclusion from Israel’s public healthcare system.
Mobile medical services · 1988
Mobile Clinic
A cooperative medical program operating in rural communities in the West Bank. Israeli and Palestinian health professionals provide primary care, basic medicines, and referrals for further treatment. The project works with Palestinian civil-society and medical organizations and is designed both to address immediate needs and to advocate for improved access to healthcare.
Human-rights advocacy
Patient rights casework
PHR-I receives complaints and testimonies from patients, detainees, prisoners, migrants, residents of unrecognized villages, and Palestinians seeking treatment. It raises cases with health funds, ministries, the prison service, military authorities, coordination offices, and courts, seeking access to treatment, permits, referrals, and non-discriminatory care.
Research and legal advocacy
Research and strategic litigation
The organization publishes reports and pursues legal and policy interventions concerning healthcare inequality, detention medicine, prison conditions, movement restrictions, immigration policy, public-health legislation, and alleged violations of medical ethics and human rights.
Controversies
2025
Report alleging genocide in Gaza
PHR-I and B’Tselem jointly published a report assessing that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. This is an allegation and organizational assessment in a disputed legal and political debate, not an uncontested factual finding.
2012
Retweeted call for soldiers to refuse orders
During Operation Pillar of Cloud, PHR-I retweeted a message calling on Israeli soldiers to refuse orders, attracting criticism because of the organization’s political implications and public advocacy.
Conflict with the Israel Medical Association
The Israel Medical Association severed ties with PHR-I after disputes involving founder Ruchama Marton and criticism from IMA and World Medical Association leader Yoram Blachar, who characterized PHR-I as a political group operating under a medical identity. The relationship later included areas of legal and ethical cooperation.
Marketing campaigns
- Right to health in the occupied Palestinian territory
West Bank · Gaza Strip
PHR-I documents and challenges restrictions affecting Palestinian access to hospitals, treatment permits, movement, and medical services, while operating the Mobile Clinic and handling individual cases.
Outcome. Ongoing advocacy, casework, medical outreach, and reporting.
- Healthcare access for migrants and people without civil status
Israel
PHR-I advocates separating healthcare rights from immigration status, expanding public coverage for children, reforming private insurance, and protecting seriously ill migrants from deportation.
Outcome. The Open Clinic continues to provide direct care and policy advocacy.
- Health equality for residents of Israel
Israel
The organization campaigns against health disparities linked to ethnicity, geography, income, and residency, including unequal access in unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev.
Outcome. Ongoing casework, public advocacy, and legal action.
- Prisoner and detainee healthcare rights
Israel
PHR-I investigates alleged denial of treatment, poor prison medical services, torture, and the participation or complicity of medical personnel in abusive detention practices.
Outcome. Ongoing complaints, research, and litigation.
- Opposition to Israel’s anti-boycott law
Israel
PHR-I publicly opposed Israel’s anti-boycott legislation and stated that it would refuse to comply with the law.
Outcome. The organization maintained its opposition to the legislation.
Brand decisions
2019
Appeal concerning migrant children’s health insuranceStrategyBackground
PHR-I challenged the removal of government-subsidized insurance options for undocumented migrant children.
Action taken
The organization pursued an appeal, with the Israel Medical Association participating as amicus.
Aftermath
The case reinforced PHR-I’s policy position that children’s access to healthcare should not depend on immigration status.
2016
Challenge to prisoner force-feeding legislationStrategyBackground
PHR-I argued that legislation authorizing force-feeding of prisoners conflicted with international law and the prohibition of torture.
Action taken
PHR-I petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court, in a legal effort that also involved the Israel Medical Association.
Aftermath
The case became part of the organizations’ later limited cooperation on medical ethics and prisoner health.
Recent events
- 2012
PHR-Israel retweets a call for soldiers to refuse orders[1]
Other
During Operation Pillar of Cloud, the organization retweeted a message supporting refusal of military orders, drawing political criticism.
- 2010
PHR-Israel receives the Right Livelihood Award[1]
Other
The organization was recognized for sustained work defending the right to health for people in Israel and Palestine.
Sources2 sources
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