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Responding to statements from Pakistani officials claiming that an airstrike that hit a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul on 16 March was targeting an ammunition depot, Isabelle Lassee, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director, Research, said:  

“While the total death toll from this attack has yet to be independently verified, it’s clear that it resulted in a significant number of deaths and injuries to civilians, at least in the hundreds.  

“It’s well-documented that a large part of Camp Phoenix, a former NATO camp, had been operating as a drug rehabilitation facility since 2016. Pakistan’s military should have taken all feasible precautions to spare civilians and civilian objects before launching this strike. Any reasonable assessment and information gathering would have concluded that the camp had a high civilian presence. 

“Even if an ammunition depot was present inside the wider camp, the decision to attack should have been weighed against any excessive harm that it was likely to cause to civilians. The scale of death and destruction raises serious concerns about whether the Pakistani military conducted an adequate proportionality assessment and took all necessary steps to gather information about the intended target and minimize civilian harm. 

Pakistan’s military should have taken all feasible precautions to spare civilians and civilian objects before launching this strike.

Isabelle Lassee, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director, Research

“The Pakistani authorities must now explain what information they acted upon, and steps taken for verification. They must also carry out an independent, impartial and timely investigation into the circumstances of this strike and the resulting civilian casualties, with the results made public with a view to ensuring accountability. 

“Amnesty International calls on all parties to the conflict to strictly adhere to international humanitarian law and to take urgent measures to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and other healthcare facilities.”  

Background 

As part of “Operation Ghazab Lil Haq”, Pakistan carried out airstrikes on 16 March in Kabul and Nangarhar. The strikes hit a camp used as drug rehabilitation centre known as Omid, which was established in 2016 on the site of Camp Phoenix, a former US and NATO military base on the outskirts of Kabul. The rehabilitation centre and other complexes on the site are reported to have had capacity for around 2,000 people. According to the Taliban, the strike killed over 400 civilians and injured more than 200 others. These figures could not yet be verified. The United Nations has reported 143 deaths so far. 

Prior to this attack, UNAMA documented at least 76 civilian casualties in Afghanistan since the armed conflict with Pakistan began in February. Pakistani officials reported four civilian deaths on 15 March in Bajaur district and that a child was killed in North Waziristan by mortar shells allegedly fired from Afghanistan on 8 March. 

The post Afghanistan/Pakistan: Strike on Kabul rehabilitation centre raises serious concerns under international humanitarian law appeared first on Amnesty International.

Responding to the killings and injuries of dozens of healthcare workers and first responders in Lebanon since 2 March 2026, amid escalating attacks by the Israeli military and its allegations – without providing evidence – that ambulances and healthcare sites are being used for military activities and may be targeted, Kristine Beckerle, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said:  

“Israel is deploying the same deadly playbook it used in 2024 in Lebanon to kill dozens of health workers and devastate healthcare services. Amnesty International’s past research highlighted how the Israeli military repeatedly carried out unlawful attacks on health facilities and health workers during the 2024 escalation and we called for these to be investigated as war crimes. The Israeli military has also repeatedly and unlawfully attacked health facilities and medical teams in Gaza, as part of a broader pattern of devastating essential services. There has yet to be any accountability or redress for those violations, and now we’re seeing healthcare workers once again killed and wounded.  

Throwing out accusations claiming that healthcare facilities and ambulances are being used for military purposes without providing any evidence does not justify treating hospitals, medical facilities or medical transport as battlefields or treating doctors and paramedics as targets.

Kristine Beckerle, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International

“Healthcare workers are risking their lives to save others, and hospitals, other medical facilities and ambulances are specifically protected under international humanitarian law. Throwing out accusations claiming that healthcare facilities and ambulances are being used for military purposes without providing any evidence does not justify treating hospitals, medical facilities or medical transport as battlefields or treating doctors and paramedics as targets. Under international humanitarian law parties to a conflict must ensure to distinguish between military objectives and civilian objects.  

“Hospitals and medical transports only lose their protection if they are used for acts that are considered ‘harmful to the enemy,’ and even then, can only be targeted after a warning that gives sufficient time for the evacuation of patients and staff goes unheeded. In cases of doubt as to whether medical facilities are being used to contribute to military activity, they should be presumed not to be so used. An attack on a medical facility that has lost its protected status must adhere to the rules on precautions, distinction and proportionality and consider carefully the adverse effects that attacking medical facilities has on civilians, the sick and wounded.  

“Under international humanitarian law, civilians, including healthcare workers, do not lose their protected status simply based on an affiliation. As such, direct attacks on medical personnel and those working in civil defence merely on the basis that they are working for institutions associated with Hezbollah are strictly prohibited. Deliberately striking medics performing their humanitarian functions is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and could constitute a war crime. 

“All parties must uphold their legal obligation to protect civilians, medical personnel, patients and healthcare infrastructure at all times. The protection of healthcare is not optional — it is a binding rule of war.” 

Background 

According to the World Health Organization, between 2 and 15 March 2026, 28 attacks on healthcare have been recorded, killing 30 people and injuring 35.  

Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health reported that as of 16 March 2026, 40 health workers have been killed and 96 injured. These include healthcare workers affiliated with the Islamic Health Association – a civilian institution affiliated with Hezbollah that provides medical and emergency services across Lebanon in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Islamic Risala Scout Association, as well as one paramedic from the Lebanese Red Cross. The Ministry also reported that five hospitals had been forced to close.  

In a recent statement, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee alleged that ambulances and medical facilities in Lebanon are being used for military purposes. The Lebanese ministry of health denied the claim. The Israeli military had made a similar claim in 2024. 

Amnesty International previously investigated four Israeli attacks on healthcare facilities and medical vehicles that killed 19 healthcare workers and wounded 11 more in a one-week period between 3 and 9 October 2024. The organization did not find indications that the medical facilities or personnel targeted had been used for military purposes or for acts harmful to the enemy and called for the investigation of the attacks as war crimes. 

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