How we're responding to the war in Gaza

Medical services

MSF staff have been working in Gaza’s hospitals and clinics throughout the war. Our teams provide a range of essential medical services including:  

• Surgical care  
• Wound and burn care  
• Postpartum care  
• Physiotherapy    
• Maternal and pediatric care
• Vaccination    
• Mental health support 

Our teams are continually adapting to extremely volatile conditions on the ground. However, various hospitals in Gaza have been subjected to sieges and evacuation orders, pushing our activities into an ever-smaller territory and limiting our response.

Hospitals and clinics we have supported

• Nasser Hospital, European Gaza Hospital, and Martyrs, Beni Suhaila, Khan Younis, and Al Athar clinics in Khan Younis
• Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah    
• Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza
• Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City    
• Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital, Emirati Maternity Hospital, Al-Najjar Hospital, and Al-Mawasi Health Post in Rafah 

Learn more about our medical operations in Gaza >>

Water and sanitation 

A dire lack of drinkable water, poor sanitation, and the destruction of water infrastructure have had dire consequences for people’s health in Gaza, including the spread of diseases and skin infections. Water distribution is therefore an important part of MSF’s response. We provide more than 600,000 liters of water per day through desalination at 40 water distribution points in Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah, Rafah, and Khan Younis. A new desalination unit in Al-Mawasi provides 30 cubic meters of drinking water per day, and a second is planned to be set up in Deir al-Balah by mid-September, which is expected to deliver 70 cubic meters per day.

In Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, MSF has been implementing water and sanitation activities in camp shelters through a partnership with the Agriculture Development Association (PARC).This includes building latrines for more than 30,000 people across six camps, distributing hygiene kits for 2,400 families, providing clean drinking water to a population of 25,000 people per day. We also equipped a camp hosting 400 people with disabilities with accessible latrines and showers.

Humanitarian aid and medical supplies  

MSF has brought in a total of 73 trucks of supplies into Gaza through the UN. However, bringing supplies into Gaza has been extremely difficult due to administrative barriers, movement restrictions, and lack of crossing options. Since the Rafah crossing closed in early May, there has been a significant decrease in the entry of trucks. 

The medical needs in Gaza are immense. Many Palestinians require urgent assistance—including people trapped under rubble, pregnant women who are about to deliver, and the elderly—and are not able to access the care they need. The core needs MSF is seeing and seeking to address include:    

Health care infrastructure

The collapse of health care infrastructure due to repeated attacks and lack of supplies has made medical care increasingly inaccessible as the overwhelming needs continue to grow. Out of the 36 main hospitals serving over 2 million people in Gaza, 20 are out of service, and those that remain partially functional face severe limitations on the types of services they can deliver.

War wounds, crush injuries, and burns care

War wounds, crush injuries, and burns treatment remain an urgent need as Israeli bombardment and attacks continue. But with very little capacity inside hospitals and a dire lack of medical supplies, people aren’t getting the care they need to heal properly or even survive.

Infections

Infections resulting from poorly treated wounds are a growing concern, driven by the difficulty wounded people face accessing care and follow-up, shortages of supplies, and lack of access to hygiene.

Disease outbreaks

Infectious diseases including diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, skin infections, and hepatitis are on the rise due to overcrowding and poor hygienic conditions in camps where displaced people are sheltering, and shortages of medicines and medical supplies.

Starvation

Starvation is inevitable under the Israeli government’s policy of deliberate deprivation, and we are already seeing the impacts of food insecurity and hunger. According to the Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC), almost half a million people (22% of the population of Gaza) are facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, and the high risk of famine will persist across the whole Strip as long as the war continues and humanitarian access remains restricted.  

Maternal and child care

In addition to the destruction or closures of once-functioning hospitals, the decimation of infrastructure has created severe obstacles for pregnant women trying to reach medical facilities. Pregnant women are often forced to navigate unsafe routes amid the fighting and without safe transportation—often delaying access to health care and putting them at higher risk of complications. 

Since October 7, increasing settler violence against Palestinians and movement restrictions have exacerbated the health impacts of life under occupation, particularly on mental health and access to care. As of August, 5,587 Palestinians—including 143 children—have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers across the West Bank since the start of the war. Jenin refugee camp has become a major target of Israeli military operations, including airstrikes and incursions by ground forces, as Israeli forces seek to eliminate militants.

MSF has responded by expanding efforts to reach communities where people are unable to access care, bolstering local emergency response, and addressing the needs of Gazans who have been stranded in the West Bank after losing their work permits in Israel after October 7. Our activities include:

• Supporting four primary health centers and running 15 mobile clinics in the Hebron area, including the Old City, and remote villages in the southern West Bank such as Masafer Yatta
• Donations to hospitals and first-aid kits for community focal points in Beit Omar and Al Rshaydeh, and the emergency care center in Um El Khair
• Providing relief items, hygiene kits, and food parcels to displaced Gazans and West Bank residents affected by violence and displacement
• Increasing capacity at hospitals including Halhoul, Thabet Thabet, Al-Mohtaseb, Jenin, and Khalil Suleiman
• Training medical staff at Al-Mohtaseb, Halhoul, Dura, and Yatta hospitals in the Hebron area. 
• Providing mental health care 
• Expanding health promotion activities.

MSF does not currently run medical programs in Israel but offered its support to Israeli hospitals treating large numbers of casualties following the Hamas attacks on October 7. We focus on filling the greatest gaps in health care, and Israel has strong emergency and health systems. 

MSF provides medical care to anyone who needs it, regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation. As an organization, we focus on filling the greatest gaps in health care.  

To facilitate our humanitarian and medical work, we speak to all parties to the conflict to request safe, rapid, and unimpeded access to civilians who require medical care and to ensure the safety and security of our staff. Our independence and impartiality are essential to our work in all the places we operate across the globe. We also believe that the principles of impartiality and neutrality are not synonymous with silence. When the world turns its back on crises, we are duty-bound to raise our voices and speak out on behalf of our patients. Our decision to do so is always guided by our mission to do no harm, preserve respect and dignity, and protect life and health.   

Read more frequently asked questions about our work in Gaza >> 

Nowhere is safe in Gaza. MSF has been calling for a ceasefire since the start of the war. Despite the passage of ceasefire resolutions by the UN Security Council on March 25 and June 10, neither have been implemented. Israeli forces continue to carry out widespread attacks that disproportionately impact civilians, including in areas designated as humanitarian zones and gathering sites for displaced people formally registered as 'deconflicted.' MSF urges Israel to immediately halt these massacres, and calls on the UK, US, and other influential countries to do everything they can to stop the killing. All states supporting Israel in these circumstances, including through the provision of military aid, are morally and politically complicit.

Without an immediate and sustained ceasefire and the sufficient flow of humanitarian assistance, we will continue to see more Palestinians die. 

The duty of treating the sick and wounded—and the correlating protection of medical personnel and facilities—is at the core of international humanitarian law. Yet, since the beginning of this war, MSF has seen a pattern of systematic attacks against medical facilities and civilian infrastructure. Our teams in Gaza have endured airstrikes hitting hospitals, ground offensives on medical centers, tank fire at agreed-upon ‘deconflicted’ shelters, and firing at convoys. These attacks show the failure of deconfliction measures in a war fought with no rules.

Among more than 880 health care workers killed across Gaza since October 7 are six MSF staff members: Mohammed Al Ahel, Alaa Al Shawa, Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, Ahmad Al Sahar, Reem Abu Lebdeh, and Fadi Al-Wadiya. 

Israel’s blockade and continued obstruction of aid delivery have made it close to impossible for Palestinians in Gaza to access vital supplies such as fuel, food, water, and medicines. This is not a logistical problem but a political one.

Humanitarian aid must be able to enter Gaza in sufficient quantities to meet the immense needs of a devastated population. Israeli authorities must urgently open more crossing points to decongest Kerem Shalom and massively speed up the amount of aid getting through to Gaza on a daily basis. As the occupying power, Israeli authorities have the responsibility to ensure humanitarian assistance can safely and effectively reach those in need. MSF also calls on all parties to ensure safe routes for the movement of humanitarian assistance inside Gaza. 

There are over 92,000 wounded Palestinians in Gaza and very few hospitals left to provide the care they need. Among the wounded are thousands of patients requiring complex and sustained medical care that is not available in Gaza. There are also many Gazans with chronic diseases, including cancer, and other health issues who need to be evacuated in order to access lifesaving care. The closure of the Rafah crossing in May has almost completely halted evacuations, leaving an estimated 12,000 unable to evacuate the Strip in the months since.

Israel must resume issuing medical referral permits for treatment in the West Bank and Jerusalem for severe cases that cannot be treated in Gaza. All medical referrals, patients, and their caregivers must be guaranteed safe, voluntary, and dignified return to Gaza.