IPPNW Board chair Dr Ruth Mitchell recently returned from two weeks in Gaza, supporting patients with critical and complex injuries at two hospitals, Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the middle of Gaza, and al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. She was interviewed by Croakey Health Media, an Australian not-for-profit public interest journalism organization.
“I wanted to make sure,” Dr. Mitchell said of her decision to go, “that solidarity and connection were the focus and that at every turn, I was acknowledging, witnessing, and celebrating the strength and resiliency of the Palestinians, of Palestinian doctors, nurses, other healthcare professionals, of the patients, of their families. These people who have been so maligned, I wanted to shine a light on them and celebrate and acknowledge and witness them….
“[W]hat’s available is not at all adequate for the enormous task of looking after a traumatised and injured population, perhaps more than half of whom are still displaced. Upwards of a million people in Gaza are still living in a tent. And their health needs are more complex than they would be if they hadn’t had to be displaced so very many times in the last two and a half years.
Medical Experts Declare President Trump Too Unstable to Remain in Office, Cite Nuclear Weapons Risks
On April 30, 2026, a group of 36 leading physicians and other doctors with expertise in mental health issued a statement calling for President Donald J. Trump’s immediate, lawful removal from office for medical reasons. His mental instability, coupled with his sole, unchecked authority to launch nuclear weapons, makes him a clear and present danger to the safety of all Americans, they declared. The U.S. Senate offices of Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Jack Reed (D-RI) entered the experts’ statement into the Congressional Record, Vol. 172, No. 76.
Read the statement in full here and below.
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[IPPNW’s statement to the 11th Review Conference to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was delivered on 1 May by Magritte Gordaneer, the director of the nuclear weapons abolition program at IPPNW’s US affiliate, Physicians for Social Responsibility.]
Honorable Chair, Distinguished Delegates, and Civil Society Colleagues,
We are in a crisis — you wouldn’t know that walking into this room.
In January, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds to midnight — the closest we have ever been to nuclear war in human history. Every second, we stand on the precipice of annihilation.
There’s only one way to turn back this clock. NPT Member States – especially the five recognized nuclear weapons states – must act on their Article 6 obligations at this Review Conference.
Read more…Failure Not an Option: Success as an Action Item Not a Checkmark at the 11th NPT RevCon
by Libby Flatoff, Policy and Program Associate and the Arms Control Association, and Molly McGinty, Program Director at IPPNW
The 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) is often referred to as the cornerstone of the global nuclear disarmament movement, to give up on it or resign to another probable failure at this year’s Review Conference (RevCon) would be a mistake. But so would continuing to treat its mere existence as a success.
As the 11th NPT RevCon opens April 27 – May 22 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, world leaders are struggling to see a path toward any meaningful outcome amid an era of unprecedented obstacles.. Each of the three pillars of the NPT, nonproliferation, disarmament, and peace use of nuclear energy are simultaneously under strain, as is the Treaty itself.
Though the case for another failure is strong, we should not resign ourselves to thinking of this conference as another failed result in a string of failing treaties, norms, and taboos, but rather as a chance for hope and reestablishment of goodwill.
Read more…How the international community obtained a nuclear weapons-free agreement with Iran―and lost it thanks to Donald Trump
If the objective of the U.S. war upon Iran is to ensure that that country does not develop nuclear weapons, that goal was attained more than a decade ago through a far different approach than the one now being followed by the Trump administration.
Iran, as a signer of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty of 1970, had agreed to forgo the development of nuclear weapons. Even so, fears grew during the early 21st century that Iran’s uranium enrichment program, used for peaceful purposes, might be diverted to the development of the Bomb, thereby throwing the volatile Middle East into yet another crisis, including a frenzied nuclear arms race.
Read more…Which way to national security?
On April 1, Donald Trump startled the world by publicly declaring that he was “absolutely” considering withdrawing the United States from the 77-year-old NATO alliance. Trump’s remarks came only hours after Pete Hegseth, his Defense Secretary, declined to reaffirm the U.S. government’s commitment to NATO’s collective defense.
Actually, the Trump administration’s recent trashing of NATO was less shocking than it appeared. During Trump’s two terms in office, he derided the alliance from the start, developed a warm relationship with its foremost adversary (Vladimir Putin), withdrew U.S. support from embattled Ukraine, called for U.S. annexation of Canada (a NATO member), threatened a military takeover of Greenland (a territory of Denmark, a NATO member), and failed to consult his NATO allies about launching a U.S. war on Iran. Indeed, the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy of December 2025 outlined a sharp shift in U.S. policy from collective action through NATO toward a heavy reliance on U.S. military power.
In line with his “America First” rhetoric, Trump has reverted to an old U.S. tradition― nationalism―and all that entails in terms of militarism, war, and imperialism.
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by Kati Juva
Finland has traditionally been active in promoting nuclear disarmament and alleviating international tensions. The legendary OSCE conference was held in Helsinki in 1975, and Finland was active promoting Nuclear-Free Norden. Before joining NATO (2023) Finland hosted several meetings between the US and Russian leaders on security and disarmament.
Read more…Was Trump’s nuclear threat serious?
On 7 April, US President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to Iran: either make a deal with him to end the war by 8 pm US Eastern Time (2400 GMT), or “a whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again”. Trump’s rhetoric has frequently been overstated, but was this a serious threat to use nuclear weapons? Some believe it was a negotiating tactic, others condemn it as a veiled nuclear threat. The White House social media response was to deny it. On the other hand, the Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, was none too sure, responding to the question of whether this was, indeed, a nuclear threat, saying:
“Only the President knows where things stand and what he will do.”
Read more…Full statement here and below. April 7, 2026.
The war between the United States, Israel, and Iran has continued to escalate over more than a month, with impacts expanding across the region and beyond. Physicians for Social Responsibility, Physicians for Human Rights, and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War renew our call for an immediate end to all fighting and a return to negotiations for the health and security of our planet.
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It is now 15 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011—and the tsunami it generated—wrought havoc on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP). A predictably dangerous plant design, a corrupt and negligent operator, and Japan’s incestuous and corrupted ‘nuclear village’ involving collusion and revolving doors between government, regulator and operators, combined in a lethal mix.
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Bimal Khadka
Bjorn Hilt
Charles K. Johnson
Gunnar Westberg
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Lawrence Wittner
Maria Valenti
mollymcgint
Sue Wareham
Tilman Ruff
Tim Wright
Xanthe Hall
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