“As the medical needs in the Strip increase, our capacity to respond continues to be limited; we just cannot get enough humanitarian and medical supplies into Gaza,” says Dr Alayyan. “The field hospitals we set up as a last resort are simply a bandage to fix the devastation caused by the war and destruction of the healthcare system. Even their setup has been hampered and delayed by restricting our ability to procure materials and equipment. As it stands, the medical facilities that remain operational cannot cope with the vast needs.”
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. People are now urged to stay within a tiny patch of 41 square kilometres, with limited shelter, food and water. There is an increased risk of disease due to overcrowding. Out of the two million people in the Gaza Strip, at least 12,000 people desperately need to be medically evacuated. The medical evacuation of those in need, and the right of Palestinians simply seeking safety for themselves and their families to leave the Strip, must immediately be facilitated, without prejudice to their right of return.
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 dehumanising 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 aid into Gaza, they continue to provide arms to Israel. The United States in particular, while recently espousing calls for ceasefire, has frequently worked to obfuscate, block, and undermine ceasefire efforts through its role in the United Nations Security Council.
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 already devastating consequences on civilians.
MSF is calling for:
- A sustained ceasefire must immediately be implemented.
- The mass killing of civilians must stop immediately.
- The destruction of the healthcare system and civilian infrastructure must halt.
- The blockade on Gaza must end.
- Israel must open vital land borders, including the Rafah crossing, to ensure massive scaled up humanitarian and medical aid can reach those in need as a matter of urgency.
- Israel must ensure medical evacuation for those in need of specialised medical care, including their caregivers, and allow those who wish to seek safety abroad can do so, while ensuring that all are guaranteed safe, voluntary, and dignified return to Gaza.