ACLJ Demands Justice for Iran’s Hospital Attack – Submits Urgent Legal Demand Letters to UN Security Council and other UN Bodies

Today we are sending urgent legal demand letters to the United Nations Secretary-General, the U.N. Security Council, and other U.N. bodies, demanding immediate action against Iran for this week’s deliberate missile attack on an Israeli hospital. Our legal team has documented clear violations of international law and is calling for Iran to be referred to the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

What Iran did this week crosses every red line of civilized warfare. Iran—the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism—deliberately fired ballistic missiles at an Israeli hospital. Not a military base. Not a weapons depot. A hospital. This direct attack on the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba—where doctors and nurses were treating patients, where families were visiting loved ones, and where the wounded and sick sought healing—is a flagrant war crime that violates the Geneva Conventions and customary international law. This wasn’t an accident. This wasn’t collateral damage. This was the calculated targeting of sick and wounded civilians in a medical facility.

The ACLJ is acting NOW. We are delivering our legal demand letters to the U.N. Security Council and other U.N. bodies. We’re demanding justice. And we need your support in this critical fight.

THE FACTS ARE UNDENIABLE

Our demand letter documents that on June 19, 2025, Iran launched 30 ballistic missiles in a deliberate assault on Israeli civilian targets. One missile directly struck Soroka Medical Center, injuring over 70 people and causing catastrophic damage throughout the facility. The top floor of the hospital building was completely destroyed. Patients had to be evacuated. Doctors described hearing a “massive boom and blast wave” as Iran’s missile tore through a place dedicated to saving lives.

This is southern Israel’s largest hospital, serving over one million people. It has more than 1,000 beds. It’s now been forced to shut down except for lifesaving emergencies, leaving an entire region without adequate medical care during an active conflict.

Iran’s justification is a lie. They claim they were targeting an adjacent military facility, but there are NO Israeli military installations adjacent to or near this hospital. The closest military base is over two kilometers away—well beyond any reasonable targeting error for precision-guided ballistic missiles.

Even if a military target were nearby (which there isn’t), international law requires Iran to warn civilians and give them time to evacuate the hospital. They didn’t. Because they weren’t trying to hit a military target but were deliberately targeting sick and wounded civilians.

This was part of Iran’s broader assault on civilians, with at least 240 total civilian injuries from attacks on residential buildings and civilian areas throughout Israel. Residential buildings near Tel Aviv were hit. Families in Ramat Gan and Holon were wounded when Iranian missiles exploded in their neighborhoods. This is the true face of the Iranian regime—a terrorist state that deliberately targets hospitals, schools, and homes because it wants to maximize civilian suffering.

OUR LEGAL ANALYSIS: CLEAR VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

In our letter to the Security Council, we’ve laid out the ironclad legal case against Iran. Both Israel and Iran are parties to all four Geneva Conventions of 1949, and Iran is a signatory to Additional Protocol I to those conventions. These create binding legal obligations that Iran has flagrantly violated. The legal analysis here isn’t complicated. Iran knows the law. They chose to break it.

THE PRINCIPLE OF DISTINCTION

Article 48 of Additional Protocol I establishes the fundamental rule: “Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives.”

Iran violated this core principle. Soroka Medical Center is exclusively a civilian medical facility with no military function whatsoever.

PROHIBITION ON ATTACKING MEDICAL FACILITIES

Article 12 of Additional Protocol I states unequivocally: “Medical units shall be respected and protected at all times and shall not be the object of attack.”

This protection is absolute unless medical facilities are being used for military purposes—which is demonstrably NOT the case here.

DEFINITION OF MILITARY OBJECTIVES

Article 52 requires that “attacks shall be limited strictly to military objectives,” defined as “those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage.”

Soroka Medical Center fails this test completely. It serves no military purpose and offers no military advantage to destroy.

PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN POPULATION

Article 51 prohibits attacks where “the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population.”

Iran did the opposite. They deliberately targeted civilians to spread terror, and they failed to provide any warning or opportunity for evacuation.

This isn’t a gray area. This isn’t a close call. This is a clear, unambiguous war crime.

THE ACLJ AND ECLJ’S SPECIFIC DEMANDS TO THE U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL AND THE U.N.

We are submitting these demand letters on behalf of both the ACLJ and our international affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ). Our legal letters don’t just document Iran’s crimes—they demand specific action. We’re calling on the Security Council and the U.N. to:

1. CONDEMN IRAN’S WAR CRIMES

Publicly and forcefully condemn Iran’s attack as a direct and open violation of the Law of Armed Conflict. No diplomatic doublespeak—call this what it is. The moral clarity here is absolute: Iran is the aggressor; Israel is the victim defending itself.

2. CONFIRM ISRAEL’S RIGHT TO SELF-DEFENSE

Publicly confirm the illegality of Iran’s attacks against Israel and the legality of Israel’s inherent right to defend itself under international law.

3. REFER IRAN TO THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

This is the key demand to the Security Council. Under Article 13(b) of the Rome Statute, the Security Council has the authority to refer situations to the International Criminal Court without any consent requirement from the states involved. We’re demanding they exercise this authority immediately.

The Security Council can act under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which gives it broad powers to address threats to international peace and security. Iran’s actions clearly meet this threshold. Iran’s leaders can and must be prosecuted for ordering, planning, or executing these attacks on protected medical facilities. This isn’t just about one hospital attack—it’s about establishing accountability for Iran’s systematic violations of international humanitarian law.

IRAN’S PATTERN OF LAWLESSNESS

This hospital attack fits Iran’s broader pattern of violating international law:

• Systematic support for terrorism through funding Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations
• Nuclear program violations in breach of IAEA agreements
• Attacks on civilian shipping in violation of freedom of navigation
• Repression of domestic protests violating human rights obligations
• Threats to destroy Israel, violating UN Charter prohibitions on threats of force

This isn’t an isolated incident—it’s an escalation in Iran’s campaign against international law.

ISRAEL’S RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF

While Iran commits war crimes by targeting hospitals, Israel continues to operate within the bounds of international law in defending its people. Israel has the inherent right—indeed, the obligation—to protect its citizens from attack.

Israel faces an existential threat from Iran and its terrorist proxies. The Iranian regime has repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction, funded organizations dedicated to killing Israeli civilians, and now directly attacks Israeli medical facilities with ballistic missiles.

No nation should have to endure what Israel endures. No people should have to live under the constant threat of missiles targeting their hospitals, schools, and homes. Israel’s defensive actions are not just legally justified—they’re morally imperative.

THE STAKES COULDN’T BE HIGHER

We will not let Iran’s attack on this hospital go without accountability. We will not let the international community ignore this war crime. We will not let the protections for medical facilities be eroded without a fight. Iran’s attack on Soroka Medical Center is a war crime that demands immediate action. The U.N. Security Council must act. The International Criminal Court must investigate. The international community must impose severe consequences.

The ACLJ has submitted its legal letter. We’ve documented the evidence. We’ve made our demands clear. Now we need the U.N. and the U.N. Security Council to act.

Iran crossed a red line. Now the world must respond with the full force of justice. Israel has the right to defend itself. The international community has the obligation to uphold the law. And Iran must face the consequences of its war crimes.