Genocide in Gaza

Last updated on 18 September 2026.

Despite the ceasefire agreement which came into effect on 10 October 2025, Israeli forces continue to kill and injure Palestinians - including children - with drones, airstrikes and shootings.

An agreement does not undo the immense suffering experienced by so many. Two years of catastrophic violence have left deep scars. More than 70,000 people have lost their lives during this genocide, including 15 of our own MSF colleagues. At least 978 Palestinians have reportedly been killed and more than 3,097 injured since the so-called 'ceasefire'.

Families displaced from their homes on multiple occasions are now experiencing another devastation: returning to find nothing left, their homes and sometimes whole neighbourhoods razed to the ground.

Israel is now taking steps to stop the work of MSF and other NGOs in Gaza and the West Bank. Since 1 January, MSF has been prevented by the Israeli authorities from bringing international staff and additional supplies into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and from 1 March all MSF’s international staff have been forced to leave the territory.

MSF is registered to work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory by the Palestinian Authority and will continue to provide medical humanitarian care, and to bear witness to the suffering of the Palestinian population, for as long as possible.

Here we address questions and allegations about MSF's work in Gaza.

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What is happening in Gaza?

As of June 2026, over 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including 15 MSF staff.

Palestinians in Gaza are nearly fully reliant on aid for basic survival. Although commercial trucks have been able to enter the Strip, the amount of goods allowed in by Israeli authorities is far from sufficient, is deliberately blocked, and continues to keep Palestinians lives hanging by a thread.

MSF is registered to work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory by the Palestinian Authority. Israel blocking MSF from bringing in supplies and international staff to Gaza and the West Bank, along with dozens of other international NGOs, is a pretext to obstruct humanitarian assistance with devastating consequences for people in Gaza

Our teams in Gaza have seen: the deliberate targeting of medics and hospitals; the use of starvation as a weapon of war with a blockade starving people of food, water, fuel and medical supplies; the militarisation of aid, and the massacre of starving people queuing for aid.

In short, we are witnessing a genocide. Through deliberate actions — including forced displacement, annexation, and mass killings — Israel is systematically destroying the conditions necessary for Palestinian life.

Much of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been intentionally destroyed. Hospitals have been completely overwhelmed and have faced running out of critical supplies. Some medical facilities have been hit by indiscriminate bombing while others have been under siege. We have been witnessing a campaign of ethnic cleansing as the very fabric of society and Palestinian life is being wiped away in Gaza.

GAZA, INSIDE THE WAR

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Residents search for survivors in the destruction caused by airstrikes in Gaza. © MSF

What is MSF doing in Gaza?

What action is MSF taking in Gaza?

MSF plays a vital role in Gaza. In 2025 we supported one in five hospital beds and assisted one in three mothers during childbirth. We continue to operate clinics for people with traumatic injuries and chronic illnesses, treat malnourished children or burn patients, and we distributed 700 million litres of water last year. Programmes of this scale cannot be easily replaced.

We currently have approximately 1,500 staff members in Gaza and over 170 in the West Bank.

The majority of our Gaza team are Palestinian and many have now lost homes or family members in the violence. Throughout the war, MSF staff have been working at hospitals and clinics, providing essential medical aid that includes:

• Surgical care
• Wound and burn care
• Maternity care
• Physiotherapy
• Mental health support
• Vaccinations
• Outpatient consultations

Hospitals and clinics that we currently support or have previously supported include:

• Southern Gaza: Nasser Hospital plus the Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis and Al-Attar healthcare centres and the Al-Quarara clinic
(Previously European Gaza Hospital, Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital, Al-Emirati Maternity Hospital and Martyrs and Beni Suhaila clinics)

• Middle Area: Al-Aqsa Hospital and two field hospitals, plus the Al-Martyrs and Al-Hekker healthcare centres

• Northern Gaza: MSF Gaza City clinic
(Previously Al-Shifa Hospital and Al-Awda Hospital)

MSF teams have been working in Palestine since 1988, providing trauma care, mental health services and running a specialist reconstructive surgery project.

What supplies are MSF getting into Gaza?

In 2026, restrictive new rules threaten to drastically reduce already insufficient aid. At a time of catastrophic humanitarian needs, Israel seeks to remove Palestinian's means of survival even further. Since the beginning of January, MSF has been prevented by the Israeli authorities from bringing international staff and additional supplies into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and from 1 March all MSF’s international staff have been forced to leave the territory.

MSF is registered to work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory by the Palestinian Authority and will continue to provide medical humanitarian care, and to bear witness to the suffering of the Palestinian population, for as long as possible.

In 2025, Israeli authorities imposed a full siege blocking all aid and depriving Palestinians of essential services and the basic necessities of life, including access to water. Following the supposed lifting of the siege on 18 May 2025, only tiny amounts of humanitarian aid were allowed in.

In the first year since 7 October 2023, MSF delivered 636 tons of logistics and medical equipment (around 130 trucks). This included medicines, wound dressings, surgical kits, generators and two field hospitals.

Is MSF working in the West Bank?

MSF’s activities in the West Bank have been affected by the escalation of violence and movement restrictions that have limited people’s access to essential services, including healthcare. The impact on our patients' mental health has been a particular concern.
We have responded by expanding our work to reach communities directly, help local emergency services and support healthcare centres and clinics.

In Nablus, MSF provides psychological therapy and sexual and gender-based violence services. We also train first responders from the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

In Jenin and Tulkarem, we train paramedics and volunteers to respond to medical emergencies inside the nearby refugee camps when ambulances are unable to reach patients due to violent incursions.

Is MSF providing medical aid in Israel?

MSF is an impartial organisation. So, we are sometimes asked why we do not currently run medical programmes in Israel.

We have offered our support to Israeli hospitals treating high numbers of casualties. However, Israel has strong emergency and health systems in place.

MSF focuses on filling gaps in healthcare and going wherever the need is greatest. Our teams are working in Gaza and the West Bank – as we have for 20 years – providing medical aid and supporting a healthcare system that urgently lacks both staff and supplies.

This is why we report on what our staff and patients are directly witnessing and experiencing.

MSF had no direct knowledge of, or interaction with, any hostages in Gaza, and we believe that humanitarian aid should not come with conditions. However, we feel the anguish of families whose loved ones were taken hostage in October 2023.

In any conflict, MSF calls for the protection of civilians on all sides.

Supply shortage and famine in Gaza

In 2026, Israel has blocked MSF from bringing in supplies and international staff to Gaza and the West Bank, along with dozens of other international NGOs. This is a pretext to obstruct humanitarian assistance with devastating consequences for people in Gaza.

Israeli authorities have deliberately choked Gaza, imposing a total siege in 2025, with severe restrictions on fuel, water, food, and medical supplies. A policy of collective punishment, including starvation by design, achieved its brutal objective – famine was declared.

Infectious diseases – including diarrhoea, respiratory infections and hepatitis – are highly reported across Gaza. Access to safe, clean drinking water is particularly difficult, exacerbating living conditions, hygiene and health issues. Infected wounds are common with patients facing the double hit of unsanitary living conditions and a healthcare system that is unable to provide the in-hospital treatment and support that they need.

Pregnant mothers struggle to access maternity care and delivery rooms, leading to dangerous childbirth complications.

Through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, launched on 27 May 2025, humanitarian aid, especially food, has been weaponised. It has been used as bait to forcibly displace people, to meet military objectives, or blocked entirely. Aid is not a bargaining chip. It is a lifeline. Denying it is collective punishment – a war crime.

What is MSF calling for?

“We are not sure that words can save lives, but we know that silence can certainly kill.”

These are the words spoken by Dr James Orbinski, as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of MSF in 1999.

As a medical humanitarian organisation, MSF not only treats the wounded, but also speaks out about what we see and do.

MSF is an independent, impartial and neutral humanitarian organisation. We operate based on medical need alone, going wherever that is greatest.

Stop attacks on hospitals and healthcare staff

Since the start of the war in Gaza, MSF has witnessed systematic attacks against healthcare facilities and medical staff, with devastating consequences for people in need.

MSF staff and patients have had to leave multiple healthcare facilities and have endured many violent incidents. This includes airstrikes damaging hospitals, tank shells fired at clearly identified shelters, humanitarian convoys fired upon and ground offensives into major hospitals.

Israel has offered no accountability for the attacks that we have raised with them.

We expect Israel to follow the obligations of international humanitarian law and we expect Israel's allies to take their responsibility seriously beyond weak political rhetoric.
We demand accountability.

Allow humanitarian aid and supplies to reach Gaza unhindered

The Israeli offensive has made the delivery of humanitarian and medical aid nearly impossible. The Israeli government’s policy of deliberate deprivation only allows a trickle of food and water to enter Gaza and will inevitably lead to malnutrition and death.

MSF teams have witnessed the widespread impact of this food insecurity, however, Israeli restrictions prevent us from doing essential assessments and launching a full-scale response. What we do see is alarming and we cannot afford to wait for the emergency to get worse.

The urgent need to get more aid into Gaza is now desperate. Reopening crossings is a crucial tool and could help to bring in a larger flow of supplies that is only possible via overland routes.

End the instrumentalisation of aid by israel

In Gaza, aid has been instrumentalised to create an illusion of safety.

People have been displaced, often multiple times, towards designated “safe” or “humanitarian zones” which maintain a pretence of Israel’s adherence to international humanitarian law.

Israeli authorities and their allies must lift the siege on food, fuel, medical, and humanitarian supplies and revert to the pre-existing principled humanitarian system, coordinated by the UN.

On 1 July 2025 MSF joined more than 200 NGOs to call for immediate action to end the deadly Israeli distribution scheme that includes the the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

With hundreds of people killed and thousands wounded while seeking food, this scheme is slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid and must be immediately dismantled.

The release of hostages in Gaza

As humanitarians, we are outraged by all violence against civilians, regardless of who is responsible. We feel the anguish of the families whose loved ones were taken hostage on October 7 2023, just as we share the pain of families of those arbitrarily detained in Gaza and the West Bank. We call on all parties to spare civilians and to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law.

On 18 October 2023, MSF joined others in signing a petition calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for the release of hostages. We gave a speech in the UN General Assembly and made a similar call.

MSF has repeatedly, publicly, and unambiguously called for the release of all hostages, and for the respect of international humanitarian law by all parties. These calls have been reflected in our public positions, media interventions, and discussions with political and diplomatic actors.

As a neutral and impartial medical organisation, MSF has not been involved in negotiations for the release of hostages in Gaza or elsewhere. That mandate falls under the responsibility of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Our role remains focused on the protection of civilians and ensuring access to healthcare, wherever needs exist.

Our communication on this genocide, as with all others where we operate, is rooted in the direct testimony of our staff on the ground and the people we serve.

We speak out based on what we witness first-hand and continue to advocate publicly to all parties involved – belligerents, political leaders, and humanitarian actors – for the protection and dignity of all civilians.

OUR COLLEAGUES KILLED IN GAZA

Why is MSF referring to what's happening as genocide?

This is not a term we use lightly. Our decision to describe what’s happening in Gaza as a 'genocide' is based on over two years of extensive, first-hand information from our teams, who are witnessing massive levels of death and destruction by Israeli forces, a campaign of ethnic cleansing and the almost total dismantling of the health care system.

Israeli authorities have been responsible for mass killings, indiscriminate attacks, forced displacement, repeated failure to protect civilians, the deliberate destruction of homes and vital infrastructure, and the weaponisation of hunger in what amounts to collective punishment.

There have been multiple and well-documented dehumanising statements by Israeli officials calling for the annihilation of the population, or their transfer out of the Strip. The only reasonable inference is that the intention is to erase the Palestinian people from Gaza. This is why we believe that a genocide is taking place.

In the face of such atrocities, sanctioned and enabled by Israel’s allies, especially the United States and the United Kingdom, we believe it is our moral obligation to speak out with clarity.

In-depth: Attacks on healthcare

Throughout the war in Gaza, there have been serious and repeated incidents of attacks on hospitals, violence against medical personnel and obstructions to healthcare.

As of December 2025, 15 MSF colleagues have been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since the start of the war.

Many hospitals that MSF supports have been hit by airstrikes or faced incursions by ground forces. Meanwhile, our staff and our patients have been subjected to dangerous evacuation orders that have put lives and the continuity of care at risk.

For example, the MSF-supported Al-Shifa Hospital was hit several times, resulting in injuries and deaths, in the lead-up to Israeli forces entering the complex on 15 November 2023. The facility was soon evacuated and became unable to function.

Elsewhere, MSF staff were killed in strikes on Al-Awda Hospital while clearly identified MSF vehicles have been destroyed by tanks.

The systemic use of evacuation orders affecting the areas around hospitals and the effective siege of multiple facilities has taken a shocking toll on the ability to both provide and access healthcare.

Currently, no healthcare facility in Gaza is able to handle the large flow of wounded people.

Treating the sick and injured, as well as protecting medical personnel and facilities is at the core of International Humanitarian Law.

All figures presented on this page are sourced by MSF directly or by medical and humanitarian organisations that include OCHA, WHO, the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Israeli Ministry of Health.