Gaza Emergency: Regional Fund
Support MSF's regional response to the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza
After a year of war, MSF teams continue to provide vital medical humanitarian care in Gaza, despite immense challenges.
In Gaza, one of the most densely populated places on Earth, 2.2 million people were already living through a chronic crisis before what has now become a humanitarian catastrophe.
As of 16 August 2024, over 40,000 people have been killed and 92,000 have been wounded according to local health authorities. Over 1.9 million people are estimated to be forcibly displaced and living in appalling conditions that are unsafe and unhealthy – without adequate shelter, food, water or medical care. This number represents nearly 90 percent of Gaza's population.
MSF medical teams are currently operating in two hospitals and eight healthcare facilities. Our teams are offering surgical support, wound care, physiotherapy, maternity and paediatric care, primary health care, vaccination, and mental health services, but sieges and evacuation orders on various hospitals are pushing our activities onto an ever-smaller territory and limited response. MSF teams are also providing water distribution.
Hundreds of casualties arrive each day to the hospital's emergency rooms. Our Palestinian and international staff are providing surgical support and wound care, including to patients with traumatic injuries and severe burns, physiotherapy, outpatients' consultations, and mental health services.
We have been able to send over 75 tons of medical supplies, mainly surgical and dressing kits, into Gaza in three deliveries – one in October, one in November and one in January. These are mainly being used at Nasser hospital, while some were delivered to the Rafah Clinic, the European Hospital and Shaboura clinic. Bringing supplies into Gaza has been extremely difficult due to administrative barriers, movement restrictions, and a large backlog of trucks at the border.
On 21 November 2023 two MSF doctors, Dr Mahmoud Abu Nujaila and Dr Ahmad Al Sahar, were killed during a strike on Al Awda Hospital, then one of the last remaining functional hospitals in Northern Gaza.
On 8 January 2024, a strike on an MSF shelter killed the daughter of an MSF staff member
In total, six MSF staff members have been killed since the beginning of the war, including numerous family members. MSF is horrified by these killings, and condemns them in the strongest terms.
Hospitals are not a target
The health system is continuously under attack in Gaza. Hospitals and ambulances are under attack, patients and medical staff are being injured and killed. The access to the wounded and sick is impeded by insecurity, lack of fuel and cell phone connectivity.
Most of Gaza’s hospitals are out of service as the electrical power and water have been cut off due to lack of fuel and also to the damage healthcare facilities sustained in multiple attacks. While some hospitals are closed, the others function with very limited resources, often unable to admit new patients due to lack or absence of medical supplies and medication, fuel, food and water. Medical staff working in Gaza are utterly exhausted and do what they can in impossible conditions.
Throughout the war in Gaza, MSF teams have witnessed attacks on health facilities in the Gaza Strip, including raids on hospitals, sieges and the destruction of medical infrastructure and equipment. On several occasions, our teams have also witnessed the detention of medical staff and patients. The healthcare system in Gaza has practically collapsed, while, people’s medical needs are skyrocketing.
Medical staff should not have to choose between saving their own lives and those of their patients.
Staff and patients from MSF have had to leave 14 different health structures and have endured 26 violent incidents (3.7 per month on average), which includes airstrikes damaging hospitals, tanks being fired at agreed deconflicted shelters, ground offensives into medical centres, and convoys fired upon. These attacks show the blatant disregard of medical humanitarian action and failure of deconfliction measures in a war fought with no rules.
Humanitarian Aid to Gaza must be unhindered
Contrary to the repeated public communications of the Israeli authorities, humanitarian aid has been denied or severely impeded since the beginning of the war, making it near impossible to provide even basic healthcare. This is not a logistics problem; it is a political problem.
Instrumentalising aid to falsely create an illusion of safety and minimal service provision in Gaza, in order to maintain the pretence of Israel’s adherence to International Humanitarian Law, is pure propaganda and is only endangering civilians further. Aid, when it is not completely blocked, comes in dribs and drabs, and can in no way adequately meet the immense needs of people in Gaza.
Water supply is critical throughout Gaza. Due to a lack of fuel, desalination plants are operating at a reduced level. There is more imported food available in some markets, where it gets through in private company trucks, but it is unaffordable for most Gazans as prices of basic commodities have skyrocketed.
Northern Gaza remains isolated, receiving negligible amounts of humanitarian aid in contrast to the actual needs. OCHA said in June that the Israeli authorities had facilitated only 49% of the planned humanitarian assistance missions to northern Gaza. The rest were impeded, denied access, or cancelled due to logistical, operational or security reasons. MSF visits to northern Gaza have illustrated the absence of essential supplies, clear and safe supply routes, and the devastation of numerous hospitals. The recent MSF report denounces Gaza’s “silent killings” from preventable diseases and lack of access to medical care
However, it’s important to note that some medical staff in hospitals like Indonesian hospital and Al Awda hospital continue working to rebuild, refurbish and treat patients. Distribution of aid within the strip from the North to the South and from the South to the North is near impossible.
MSF's emergency response in Gaza
In the first days of the airstrikes on Gaza, MSF was able to continue coordinating medical activities. and supporting hospitals in the Strip. We scaled up our donations of essential medicines and equipment and set up a clinic in downtown Gaza.
At the moment there are over 500 locally hired staff working in Gaza, with a rotating team of between 25-30 internationally mobile staff offering support across MSF hospitals and health facilities. Since the beginning of the war on 7 October 2023 MSF has performed:
• Over 53,400 wound dressings
• Over 4,300 surgical operations
• Over 10,700 individual mental health activity sessions
• Distributions of 2.4 million litres of chlorinated water
MSF is supporting the following medical facilities:
South Gaza
• Al-Mawasi Advanced PHCC, Rafah
• Nasser Hospital, Khan Younis
• Al-Mawasi Health Post, Khan Younis
• Khan Younis PHCC, Khan Younis
• Al Attar PHCC, Khan Younis
• Al Qarara SRH clinic, Khan Younis
Middle Area Gaza
• Al-Aqsa Hospital, Deir Al Balah
• Al Martyrs PHCC, Deir Al Balah
• Al Hekker PHCC, Deir Al Balah
North Gaza
• MSF clinic, Gaza City
Currently, we have a rear base in Egypt to facilitate the transit of our international supplies, and we have a supply emergency team based in Amman, through which we will try to send supplies into Gaza. As of end of June 2024, MSF had brought seven international cargos, a total of 73 trucks, into Gaza through United Nations.
The closure of the Rafah border crossing, following Israel’s offensive in the south of Gaza in early May, coupled with the endless red tape imposed by Israeli authorities, have dramatically congested the flow of humanitarian aid through the Kerem Shalom entry point.
MSF is also distributing 600,000+ litres of water per day through more than 40 water points in Al Mawasi, Khan Younis, Rafah, and Deir El Balah. We are continuously working to increase this quantity, as drinkable water is a scarce source. A desalination unit in Al Mawasi is also providing 30 m3 per day of drinking water. A second one is planned to be set up in Deir el Balah, with an expected delivery of 70 m3 per day.
Through partnership with PARC - Agriculture Development Association, MSF (OCA) is implementing water and sanitation activities in camp shelters in Deir El Balah and Khan Younis. This includes building latrines for more than 30,000 people located in 6 camps. They also aim at distributing hygiene kits for 2,400 families and providing enough daily clean drinking water to a population of 25,000 people. The partnership also includes equipping a camp hosting 70 families (400 people) of people living with disabilities with the needed sanitary facilities (accessible latrines and showers).
The number of trucks so far allowed to deliver aid into Gaza through the Rafah crossing is totally insufficient compared to the desperate needs of the people. It is vital that more aid is delivered to Gaza on a regular basis and that a safe passage is ensured to allow aid to reach areas where the needs are greatest. MSF stand ready to deliver medical supplies to Gaza if given an opportunity to do so.
MSF's emergency response in the West Bank
Amid an increase in violence in the West Bank, our teams are supporting emergency care and mental health care in Hebron, Nablus, and Jenin.
In Hebron, MSF teams are operating 15 mobile clinics, providing support to 4 Primary Healthcare Facilities, and the implementation and support of the maternity and emergency room capacity increase in Halhul Hospital, increase emergency room capacity in Al Mohtaseb Hospital, mental health support, capacity building in emergency response, as well as advocacy and protection. We are supporting various hospitals with donations and first-aid kits and training to community focal points in Beit Ummar, Al Rshaydeh, and Umm al Kheir. We also trained medical staff in Al Mohtaseb Hospital, Halhul, Dura, and Yatta Hospital in Hebron area.
In Nablus, MSF is also training volunteers from the Palestine Red Crescent Society as first aid providers and first responders. Furthermore, we started the training of paramedics, nurses and doctors from the camps on trauma management, and provided first aid kits. In April, MSF began a training for doctors and nurses in the emergency room in three different hospitals (Nablus, Tubas and Qalqilya) to increase the capacity of Ministry of Health staff to respond to trauma cases.
In Jenin, more than 400 Gazans who were legally working in Israel had their permits cancelled after 7 October. Today, they are living in temporary shelters in precarious conditions; an MSF team has visited them and provided support.
Additionally, MSF teams are currently doing capacity building (trainings) in the emergency rooms in the Ministry of Health hospitals in Jenin and Tulkarem. We are also supporting and training medical and paramedical staff, primarily in ambulances, to provide first aid and lifesaving services in and outside the hospital in case of obstructed access to the premises. Furthermore, we equip volunteer paramedics in Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps with donations and training, so they can stabilise patients during active hostilities in case ambulances are not able to reach them.
In mental health care, MSF provides group sessions and psychological first aid in communities, facilitates crisis intervention sessions and trainings for medical staff, and provides individual consultations in Khalil Suleiman Hospital.
The conditions in Gaza are only getting worse: more people are injured and dying every day, while medical care is becoming less and less available. Contributions towards the Gaza Emergency Regional Fund will support MSF’s emergency response to this severe humanitarian crisis. MSF’s independence — and your support — will be crucial to our ability to launch lifesaving programs assisting vulnerable people caught in the Gaza emergency.
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