War on Gaza must end
Israel, allies must stop enabling it
Since the atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7 2023, killing up to 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, Israeli forces have pursued an all-out war on people in Gaza, killing more than 41,500 according to the UN, and wounding over 96,000. People have been repeatedly displaced and forced into smaller and smaller areas under bombardments and increasingly inhumane conditions.
For a year, Hamas, Israel and their respective allies have catastrophically failed to reach a deal on a sustained ceasefire in Gaza, while the risk of a full-blown regional conflict is now increasing. Israel must immediately stop the indiscriminate killing of civilians in Gaza and urgently facilitate the delivery of assistance to alleviate suffering inside Gaza, including through the reopening of vital border crossings, in compliance with the measures requested by the International Court of Justice.
“Our teams have been forced to perform surgeries without anesthesia, witness children die on hospitals floors due to a lack of resources and even treat their own colleagues and family members.”
Dr. Amber Alayyan, MSF medical program manager
Severe burns, crushed bones among medical impacts of war
On a daily basis, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical staff have treated patients with wounds caused by massive bombings. People have extensive burns, crushed bones and have been dismembered. Since the beginning of the war, MSF teams have treated over 27,500 patients for violence-related injuries, more than 80 per cent of wounds linked to shelling.
“Israeli bombardments of densely populated areas have repeatedly caused injuries on a massive scale. Our teams have been forced to perform surgeries without anesthesia, witness children die on hospitals floors due to a lack of resources and even treat their own colleagues and family members,” says Dr. Amber Alayyan, MSF medical program manager. “Meanwhile, the healthcare system in Gaza has been systematically dismantled by Israeli forces.”
MSF teams were already treating the effects of Israel’s 17-year blockade and recurrent attacks on people in Gaza, including treating patients for long-lasting injuries, mental health conditions and severe burns inflicted before Oct. 7. Since that date though, while needs have soared, access to healthcare has been reduced to shreds.
Attacks against healthcare
According to the UN, today only 17 out of 36 hospitals are partially functional. Warring parties have conducted hostilities near medical facilities, endangering patients, caretakers and medical staff. Six MSF colleagues have also been killed. Since October 2023, MSF staff and patients have had to leave 14 different health structures because of serious incidents and ongoing fighting. Each time a medical facility is evacuated, thousands of people lose access to lifesaving medical care. This will have consequences on people’s health, not just in the immediate term, but in the weeks and months to come.
The lack of access to healthcare is compounded by lack of humanitarian supplies in Gaza. Israeli authorities have routinely imposed unclear, unpredictable criteria for authorizing supply entry. Once supplies cross into Gaza, they often do not make it to their destination because of an absence of safe and accessible roads, ongoing fighting and looting of food and basic supply items by people trying to survive the war.
“For one year, Israel’s allies have continued to provide their military support to Israel, as children are killed en masse [and] tanks fire on deconflicted shelters.”
– Chris Lockyear, MSF secretary general
As the availability of medical care has shrunk so too have the options for people to seek out desperately needed healthcare in Gaza. Repeated evacuation orders have displaced 90 per cent of people into so-called safer zones which Israel has nonetheless bombed over and over again.
Shameful global inaction
While the past 12 months have been marked by destructive actions, they have also been defined by shameful inaction.
“For one year, Israel’s allies have continued to provide their military support to Israel, as children are killed en masse, tanks fire on deconflicted shelters, fighter jets bomb so-called humanitarian zones,” says Chris Lockyear, MSF secretary general. “This has been accompanied by a consistent public narrative dehumanizing people in Gaza and failing to distinguish between military targets and civilian lives. The only way to stop the killing is with an immediate and sustained ceasefire.”
Time and again, political allegiances have been put before human life. While Israel´s allies publicly speak on the importance of a ceasefire and need to facilitate humanitarian support into Gaza, they continue to provide arms to Israel.
Meanwhile, the war in Gaza is fuelling regional tensions, which are reaching disastrous heights. Israeli attacks have surged in the West Bank, and now in Lebanon, with devastating consequences on civilians.
MSF’s calls:
- A sustained ceasefire must immediately be implemented.
- The mass killing of civilians must stop now.
- The destruction of the healthcare system and civilian infrastructure must halt.
- The blockade on Gaza must end.
- Israel must open vital land borders
- Israel must ensure medical evacuation for people in need of specialized medical care, including their caregivers.
- Israel must allow those who wish to seek safety abroad to do so, while ensuring all are guaranteed safe, voluntary and dignified return to Gaza.
- The United Nations Security Council must take action to ensure a ceasefire as the guarantor of international peace and security and end its complacency with the ongoing destruction of Gaza.
