Amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and a growing exodus of physicians, Israeli regime agencies have held a medical recruitment fair in London to attract British doctors to the occupied territories, even as new research shows that nearly 1,370 doctors left Israel for extended stays abroad between 2023 and 2025.
The MedEx UK medical job fair was recently held at a Jewish community centre in London, organized by Nefesh B’Nefesh, the Jewish Agency for Israel and Israel’s ministry of aliyah and integration. The event is part of the international medical aliyah program, launched in 2020 with the aim of bringing 2,000 doctors to the Israeli-occupied territories by 2029.
An activist from Jewish Anti-Zionist Action who attended the fair said representatives of healthcare providers, including Clalit and Terem, distributed leaflets promoting medical opportunities at facilities operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The event also offered prospective recruits opportunities to meet hospital representatives and take the Hebrew proficiency tests required for medical licensing.
Research conducted by Tel Aviv University found that approximately 1,370 doctors left Israel for stays abroad exceeding one year between 2023 and 2025, almost double the 705 departures recorded between 2013 and 2015.
The researchers documented 416 departures in 2023 and 530 in 2024, with an initial projection of 419 for 2025.
Nevertheless, the net loss of physicians between 2023 and 2024 reached 509, averaging about 255 a year, nearly five times the average annual net loss recorded between 2010 and 2019.
The exodus has unfolded against the backdrop of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, launched in October 2023, and the political and security turmoil fuelled by the regime’s ongoing aggression.
More than 20 percent of departing doctors were aged 45 or older. The exodus has also affected several specialties, including paediatrics, ophthalmology, dermatology, and ear, nose and throat medicine.
The researchers warned that the loss of experienced specialists could lengthen waiting times, undermine patient care and weaken the training of future doctors.
In response, Israeli regime authorities have introduced financial incentives and streamlined licensing requirements in an effort to attract internationally trained physicians.
In 2025, the regime's ministry of health reduced the experience threshold for a possible exemption from the medical licensing examination from 14 years to 10. In 2026, authorities announced funding of up to 240 million shekels, approximately $76.7 million, for international medical recruitment.
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