A critical medical charity, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), has been forced to cease its vital operations in Gaza City. This drastic step was taken due to the severe risks posed to its personnel by the ongoing Israeli military ground offensive, marking yet another troubling escalation in the collapse of healthcare services across the region.
MSF, known for delivering essential medical aid, including treatments for malnutrition and critical trauma injuries, confirmed on Friday its complete withdrawal from Gaza City. The decision came as Israeli tanks and military assaults drew perilously close, reaching within approximately half a mile of the organization’s clinics.
“We were left with no alternative but to halt our operations, as our clinics are now surrounded by Israeli forces,” stated Jacob Granger, MSF’s emergency medical coordinator in Gaza. He emphasized the gravity of the situation, adding, “This was the absolute last resort, especially given the immense medical needs in Gaza City.”
Granger highlighted the critical role MSF played, noting that in the previous week alone, their clinic had performed over 3,600 consultations and treated more than 1,600 individuals for malnutrition. This underscores the desperate humanitarian situation in an area that a U.N.-backed panel of food experts had declared to be facing famine conditions last month. Israel, however, has consistently challenged these findings and their methodology.
MSF’s announcement coincided with a grim report from the United Nations, which revealed that four hospitals in northern Gaza had become inoperable over the past month. One of these facilities suffered extensive damage from an airstrike on the very first day of Israel’s ground offensive. The Israeli military has not yet provided comment on these incidents.
Adding to the alarm, Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), warned reporters in Geneva on Friday that more hospitals in Gaza are on the brink of closure. The primary reasons are severe shortages of critical supplies, notably blood and blood bags.
Compounding the crisis is the enduring shortage of fuel needed to power hospital generators, a critical issue throughout the conflict that began with a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Gaza’s health ministry recently stated that these unreliable supplies threaten to make access to life-saving healthcare even more challenging.
The medical infrastructure in Gaza has been further crippled since Israel initiated its comprehensive ground offensive on Gaza City on September 16. Israel claims the city is one of the final strongholds for Hamas.
Prior to the offensive, Israel had issued an evacuation order for Gaza City. Last week, the military reported that approximately 640,000 of the city’s nearly one million residents had already relocated to the southern parts of the territory.
However, Mr. Granger highlighted that a significant portion of the population, including the most vulnerable — infants requiring neonatal care, individuals with severe injuries, and those battling life-threatening illnesses — remain trapped and unable to evacuate.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, described the worsening conditions in Gaza City as “deeply disturbing and alarming.”
“Strikes on and near healthcare facilities are rendering the delivery of essential, life-saving care impossible,” he stated on Friday, through social media. He urgently called upon Israel to “guarantee safe access and protection for all health workers, patients, and medical supplies.”
Among the hospitals forced to close in the last month was Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital, which, according to the United Nations, was struck by a military attack on September 16, with 80 patients inside. While the strike caused no fatalities, it severely damaged rooftop water tanks, communication infrastructure, and critical medical equipment. As of Saturday, the Israeli military has not responded to inquiries regarding this incident.
Israel has asserted that Hamas utilizes hospitals for military objectives, an accusation that Hamas refutes. International laws of armed conflict designate hospitals as protected sites, prohibiting attacks on them except under very specific and rare conditions.
With these closures, only 14 hospitals remain operational across Gaza, serving a population of 2.2 million. Residents have endured nearly two years of continuous conflict, which has claimed over 65,000 lives, as reported by local health authorities, and decimated vast areas of the territory. The Gaza health ministry, whose figures do not differentiate between combatants and civilians, announced on Saturday that 77 individuals were killed in the preceding 24 hours.
Of the 14 remaining hospitals, eight are located in Gaza City, with the other six spread across the central and southern regions of the enclave, specifically in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis.
The WHO reported that hospitals in Gaza City are severely overburdened with casualties from military strikes. Concurrently, the mass exodus of people from Gaza City has led to an overwhelming influx of patients in facilities located in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis.
Dr. Khalil al-Daqran, spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, confirmed on Saturday that the surge of evacuees from Gaza City has left his hospital “completely saturated with patients and the injured.”
He described the conditions at the facility as “catastrophic,” with many patients receiving care in makeshift tents set up in the hospital courtyard, while others are forced to lie on the floor. Dr. al-Daqran expressed deep concern about the potential for widespread disease, noting that a large population in Deir al Balah is living in “tents surrounded by raw sewage, refuse, rodents, and insects.”
Meanwhile, in Gaza City, Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, reported on Saturday that their facility remains operational. Approximately 200 wounded and ill patients are currently being treated there, with more arriving daily amidst Israel’s ongoing offensive.
Dr. Abu Salmiya conveyed that the military actions have severely hindered efforts to restock essential supplies at Al-Shifa, which was Gaza’s foremost medical center prior to the conflict. He shared concerns from both staff and patients regarding potential evacuation orders from the Israeli military, a directive that has been issued at least twice previously during the war.