{
  "id": 6269951,
  "title": "At least 1,360 doctors leave Israel since 2023 in healthcare brain drain",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/08/at-least-1-360-doctors-leave-israel-since-2023-in-healthcare-brain",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-08T11:05:17.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Middle East Eye",
    "slug": "middle-east-eye",
    "url": "https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/least-1360-doctors-leave-israel-october-2023"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "At least 1,360 doctors have departed Israel since 2023, according to recent research. This equates to a hospital worth of medical professionals leaving the country over a 12-month period from 2023 to 2025. In 2023, 416 doctors left, 530 in 2024, and an estimated 419 in 2025. Professor Itai Ater, a researcher involved in the study, noted that Israel began losing its top talent in 2023, the same year it initiated the Gaza Strip conflict. \"We have family members waiting for surgery and other medical care,\" Ater commented.\n\nThe study revealed a particularly high exodus among specialists in pediatrics, ophthalmology, dermatology, and ear, nose, and throat care. While the report does not explicitly link the political situation in Israel to the physician exodus, Ater warned that the loss of these professionals is harming the nation. \"If this trend continues, heaven forbid, there is growing concern of irreversible damage to Israel’s resilience,\" Ater stated.\n\nThe Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported that at least 1,701 healthcare workers were killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza between October 2023 and October 2025. In June, over 1,150 health professionals and organizations worldwide signed a petition calling for a boycott of Israel's Medical Association (IMA). They accused the organization of ignoring medical ethics during the Gaza war and requested its suspension from the World Medical Association (WMA). Inside Israel, the news is spreading rapidly.",
  "summary": "At least 1,360 doctors leave Israel since 2023 in healthcare brain drain Submitted by Alex MacDonald on Tue, 09/08/2026 - 11:12 Researchers recorded 416 departures in 2023, 530 in 2024, and an initial estimate of 419 in 2025 Doctors wheel a patient to safety at Soroka Hospital following an Iranian missile attack in Beersheba, southern Israel, on 19 June (AFP/John Wessels) Off At least 1,360…",
  "key_points": [
    "1,360 doctors left Israel between 2023 and 2025",
    "416 doctors departed in 2023, 530 in 2024, 419 in 2025",
    "Specialists in pediatrics, ophthalmology, dermatology, and ENT left in high numbers"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}