The Health Ministry has tightened restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence tools in hospitals, proactively blocking access to public AI platforms on computers in government hospitals.
The move comes about four months after the ministry first warned against the use of such tools and restricted them over concerns about patient privacy, medical confidentiality and cybersecurity.
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The initial restrictions were issued in March, amid a rise in cyberthreats against Israel’s health system during Operation Roaring Lion.
In a letter sent at the time to health care organization directors, Reuven Eliyahu, the ministry’s information security and cyber chief, wrote that officials had identified “a significant increase in information security risks stemming from the use of artificial intelligence tools.”
“These tools currently constitute a major attack vector exploited by hostile actors to carry out complex cyberattacks, social engineering and leaks of sensitive information from health care organizations,” he wrote. “In light of this, extra caution is required, along with reducing organizations’ exposure to these risks.”
Prof. Ran Balicer, deputy director general and chief innovation officer at Clalit Health Services, said at the time: “For an individual doctor who is not part of an organization, and for a patient at home, the rule is: What you would not upload to Facebook, do not upload to a chat.”
About a year ago, the Knesset Health Committee held a hearing on the risks of uncontrolled use of AI tools, where doctors warned of mistakes occurring in the field every day.
Yossi Erblich, chairman of the medical assistance organization Lemaanchem, who initiated the hearing, said: “Artificial intelligence is a tremendous development for the medical system, but the use of chats at this point in time could generate errors. I warned the Health Ministry in April last year, and I am glad the ministry’s director general adopted my recommendation.”
The Health Ministry said protecting patient privacy, medical confidentiality and information security is a top priority when introducing new technologies.
“The Health Ministry views artificial intelligence as a significant engine for innovation and advancement of the health system, and works to encourage its implementation,” the ministry said.
It said the use of public, free and external AI tools carries cybersecurity risks and concerns about exposing sensitive medical information.
“In March 2026, the Health Ministry issued a directive requiring all health organizations to stop using these tools on organizational networks and move only to secure tools, subject to appropriate risk management,” the ministry said.
At the same time, the ministry said it is working to integrate dedicated protective systems that would allow expanded use of AI, including on computers connected to organizational networks, while maintaining high standards of privacy, information security and cyber protection.