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. Three 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.
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.
What is MSF doing in Gaza?
Between 7 October 2023 and end of April 2026, MSF teams in Gaza provided:
- 1,904,200 outpatient consultations
- 653,887 emergency room consultations
- 115,759 individual mental health sessions
- 92,578 patients admitted
- 45,540 surgeries
-
24,983 births assisted
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.
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.
