Responding to reports of a Myanmar military air strike on a hospital in Rakhine State on Wednesday night (10 December), Joe Freeman, Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher, said:

“Nowhere and no one is safe from the violence of the Myanmar military, which is widening its repression ahead of an election later this month that has been marked by human rights abuses. The latest attack on a hospital must be investigated as a violation of humanitarian law.

“Bombing a hospital on a global day dedicated to human rights shows the utter disregard that the Myanmar military has for civilians. Harrowing images of the aftermath of this attack, shared with Amnesty, indicate this was yet another air strike.

“The prevalence of such strikes by the Myanmar military, which have reached record levels this year, underlines the urgent need to suspend jet fuel, weapons and dual-use goods shipments to the country.

“Almost five years after the military coup, the international community must take concerted, targeted and effective action to hold perpetrators to account in Myanmar, including the much-needed and long-overdue referral by the UN Security Council of the full situation in all of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court.”

Verified footage confirms air strike

The Myanmar military bombed the Mrauk-U General Hospital in Rakhine State on the evening of 10 December, according to multiple media reports, which suggest that two bombs were dropped. According to information from the political wing of the Arakan Army, a resistance group that took Mrauk-U from Myanmar military control in 2024, 33 civilians were killed, including a baby. About 80 people were injured.

Photos and video of the damage to the hospital as well as the corpses of the victims were shared with Amnesty. Footage of the damage, which was verified by Amnesty’s Evidence Lab, is consistent with an air strike.

Hospitals are protected under international humanitarian law and can only be targeted if being used for committing acts harmful to the enemy outside of their humanitarian functions.

Since a ceasefire broke down in 2023, the Arakan Army has taken control of 14 out of 17 townships in Rakhine State, where members of the Rohingya minority have been trapped in the conflict.