Dear Nurses, members and volunteers of PHR Israel,

 Today, May 12^th, is the international nurses day, that celebrates the significant role nurses play in every patient's lives. We the members, staff and board of PHR Israel wish to convey our deep appreciation to all nurses working in Israel for the benefit of the patients as well as for social change.

 As health professionals we find ourselves in an eroding daily routine, demanding and challenging. Between the long shifts and the load in the hospitals and the clinics we find nurse, who beyond their daily work volunteer their time and energy for caring for and promoting the health rights of some of the more marginalized communities: the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, the migrants and asylum seekers, the Bedouins in the unrecognized villages, and others.

 Nurses are at the heart of the health system, both professionally and in leading the struggle against discriminatory policies. Only a few months ago the nurses took a brave and unequivocal position when under funding and low investment in human resource of the health system violated the rights of many patients.

 PHR Israel is aware of the distress among nurses and joins their call for an in depth structural change of the health system, that will ensure adequate budgeting, and the respect of health workers, as part of our mission to give adequate respectful treatment to every person.

 We are proud of all of you, volunteers and members of the organization, who contribute time and energy in the struggle for the fullfilement of the right to health of every person, whether it is in our mobile clinic in the West Bank, in our open clinic for migrants and asylum seekers, or in the hospitals and clinics around the country.