MSF report exposes Israel’s campaign of total destruction

In response to the horrific attacks carried out by Hamas and other armed groups in Israel on 7 October 2023 – in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 people were taken hostage – Israeli forces are crushing the entire population of Gaza. Israel’s all-out war on Gaza has reportedly killed more than 45,000 people, according to the Ministry of Health, including eight MSF colleagues. The number of excess deaths related to the war is likely much higher due to the impacts of a collapsed health care system, disease outbreaks, and severely limited access to food, water, and shelter. The United Nations estimated earlier this year that more than 10,000 bodies remained buried under the rubble.

Israeli forces have on numerous occasions prevented essential items such as food, water, and medical supplies from entering the Strip, as well as blocked, denied, and delayed humanitarian assistance, as documented in the report. Some 1.9 million people—90 percent of the entire population of the Strip—have been forcibly displaced, many forced to move multiple times.

Fewer than half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partially functional, and the health care system lies in ruins. During the one-year period covered by the report – from October 2023 to October 2024 – MSF staff alone have endured 41 attacks and violent incidents, including airstrikes, shelling, and violent incursions in health facilities; direct fire on our shelters and convoys; and arbitrary detention of colleagues by Israeli forces. MSF medical personnel and patients have been forced to evacuate hospitals and health facilities on 17 separate occasions, often literally running for their lives. Warring parties have conducted hostilities near medical facilities, endangering patients, caretakers, and medical staff.

Meanwhile, Palestinians’ physical and mental health injuries are overwhelming, and the needs continue to grow. MSF-supported facilities have carried out at least 27,500 consultations for violence and 7,500 surgical interventions. People are suffering from war wounds as well as chronic diseases, made worse when they cannot get access to essential health care services and medicines. Israel’s forced displacement has pushed people into unbearable and unhygienic living conditions where diseases can spread rapidly. 

As a result, MSF teams are treating high numbers of people for illnesses like skin diseases, respiratory infections, and diarrhoea – all of which are expected to increase as winter temperatures drop. Children are missing out on crucial immunisations, leaving them vulnerable to diseases like measles and polio. MSF has observed an increase in the number of malnutrition cases, however it is impossible to carry out a full malnutrition screening in Gaza due to widespread insecurity and the lack of proper deconfliction measures.