"[1] PHR-I states that "principles of human rights, medical ethics, and social justice are at the core of our worldview," and is against what it maintains to be the "ongoing occupation of the Palestinian Territory.

[2] PHR-I founder and CEO, Ruchama Marton, supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions[3] movement and has drawn criticism from Israeli groups opposed to it.

[4][5] PHR-I's President is Professor Raphi Walden, a vascular surgery expert, board member of the Sheba Medical Center Tel HaShomer, and professor of medicine at Tel Aviv University, and the Chairman of the Executive Committee is Dr. Mushira Aboo-Dia, a gynecologist at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital and winner of the Gallanter Prize for Social Justice.

Such claims may come from the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev, or from migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers living in Israel.

The department researches and publishes information regarding prevention of medical care from the Gazan population, limitations on the right to move and reside freely in the West Bank, Shin Bet interrogation of patients at Erez Crossing, and other cases.

The migrants and undocumented people department strives to promote the right to health of immigrants and persons of no civil status living in Israel.

As a left-wing organization, the department opposes the privatization of the Israel prison system, as it believes inmate care should not be handled by a for-profit company.

The department aims to identify concerns with the implementation of Israel's public health insurance law, and acts to create solutions to these problems.

The project promotes the recognition of the villages as legitimate towns, which will guarantee their residents the right of access to medical services, infrastructure, development and public health maintenance.

Physicians for Human Rights–Israel has operated the Mobile Clinic Project since its establishment in 1988, with the goal of addressing ongoing health issues in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

From the very beginning, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, the largest non-governmental primary healthcare provider in the West Bank, has been the main partner of PHR-I in these activities.

[13] Following an appeal from PHR-I, the IMA adapted its ethical guide on the prioritization of medical care in multiple-casualty settings when the presumed attacker is also wounded.