An emergency physician, anaesthesiologist and intensive-care specialist, and trainer in war medicine, Raphaël Pitti is a committed man of the field. From Syria to Gaza by way of Ukraine, he bears witness to the worst humanitarian catastrophes of our time. This article looks back at his career, his commitments and his uncompromising view of humanitarian law.
A vocation born of war
A military doctor in the service of populations
Born in 1950 in French Algeria, into an Italian family that had fled fascism, Raphaël Pitti knew exile early on. A refugee in France from 1962, he has kept a deep attachment to Algeria. The army became his route to social advancement: there he became a doctor and discovered theatres of war.
He served in the former Yugoslavia, during the Gulf War, in Chad, Djibouti and Lebanon. Through these experiences, he became a professor of emergency and disaster medicine. His role: training military doctors to work in extreme contexts.
A humanitarian turning point
From soldier to humanitarian
In 2004, refusing to give up contact with patients for an administrative career, he left the army. Then began his humanitarian career: the Bulgarian nurses in Libya, expert work for Sonatrach in Algeria, and the creation of training centres in high-risk areas.
His experience became an invaluable asset in humanitarian work, especially in war zones.
Political commitment and defence of refugees
Raphaël Pitti is also an engaged citizen. In 2016, he supported Emmanuel Macron, drawn by his promise of dignity for refugees. But quickly disappointed by French migration policy, he renounced his Légion d’honneur. In his view, France betrayed its humanitarian commitments, notably by refusing to take in the passengers of the ship Aquarius.
“I was a refugee myself. I know what it means to lose your bearings.”
Syria: ten years of commitment on the health front
A war ignored by the West
In 2012, Raphaël Pitti discovered the scale of the humanitarian crimes in Syria: targeted bombing of hospitals, chemical attacks, prolonged sieges… With UOSSM, he set up four training centres for Syrian health workers and trained more than 34,000 people.
He returned 35 times clandestinely, teaching war medicine: triage, stabilising the wounded, care under bombardment. He regularly alerted the authorities and the media to Europe’s complicit silence in the face of the brutality of the Syrian regime and its Russian allies.
Gaza: the total collapse of humanity
An unprecedented situation
In 2024, he spent two weeks at the European Hospital in Rafah, in southern Gaza. He describes a situation of absolute chaos: an overcrowded hospital, a total lack of medical resources, children in the corridors, serious war injuries left untreated.
He speaks of reverse triage: the most seriously wounded are abandoned for lack of resources, an act he considers ethically unbearable.
“I had never seen that. Not even on my many missions in Syria or Ukraine.”
Double standards: Gaza vs Ukraine
Pitti denounces Western hypocrisy. In his view, the West’s swift response against Russia contrasts with its silence over the crimes committed in Gaza.
“If Netanyahu is not considered a war criminal, then international conventions are worth nothing.”
The urgent need for a humanitarian awakening
Raphaël Pitti calls for firm condemnation of violations of international humanitarian law. He warns of a regression of humanity:
“We are entering a world of violence, where might prevails over right.”
He pleads for a moral awakening, a return to our values of humanity and justice.
Conclusion
Raphaël Pitti embodies the voice of humanitarian medicine — the one that treats without distinction and warns without respite. His testimony, both harrowing and necessary, reminds us that silence is complicit in massacres. Humanity cannot survive without those who, like him, fight so that it does not disappear.
