Doctors Without Borders, a crucial medical aid organization, has announced the suspension of its operations in Gaza City. This difficult decision comes as the intensifying Israeli ground offensive poses severe risks to their dedicated staff, further straining the already collapsing healthcare system in the region.
The organization, known for providing essential medical services such as treating malnutrition and severe trauma, confirmed on Friday that it had ceased all activities in Gaza City. This halt was necessitated by Israeli tanks and military strikes advancing to within half a mile of their medical facilities.
Jacob Granger, Doctors Without Borders’ emergency medical coordinator in Gaza, expressed the grim reality: ‘We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities, as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces.’ He emphasized the profound regret, stating, ‘This is the last thing we wanted, as the needs in Gaza City are enormous.’
Granger further highlighted the critical situation, noting that in the past week alone, their clinic had conducted over 3,600 consultations and treated more than 1,600 individuals suffering from severe malnutrition. This underscores a desperate need in an area that a UN-backed food expert panel previously declared was experiencing famine. Israel, however, has consistently challenged these findings, questioning the panel’s methods.
The charity’s announcement coincided with a dire report from the United Nations, revealing that four hospitals in northern Gaza have become unusable over the last month. One of these facilities suffered significant damage from an airstrike on the very first day of Israel’s ground offensive. The Israeli military has not yet commented on these reports.
Adding to the urgency, Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization, warned reporters in Geneva on Friday that more Gaza hospitals could cease functioning in the coming days due to critical shortages, specifically mentioning blood and blood bags.
The conflict, which began with a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, has also caused a chronic shortage of fuel for hospital generators. Gaza’s health ministry cautioned last week that these unreliable supplies threaten to severely cripple access to medical care.
Gaza’s already fragile medical infrastructure has faced further catastrophe since Israel initiated its full-scale ground offensive in Gaza City on September 16. Israel claims the city is one of Hamas’s final strongholds within the territory.
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 moved south.
However, Mr. Granger highlighted that a significant portion of the population, particularly the most vulnerable – including ‘infants in neonatal care, those with severe injuries and life-threatening illnesses’ – remains trapped, unable to evacuate.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, described the worsening situation in Gaza City as ‘disturbing and alarming.’
He stated on social media Friday that ‘attacks on and around health facilities are making it impossible to deliver lifesaving care,’ urging Israel to ‘ensure safe access and protection for health workers, patients, and medical aid.’
Among the facilities forced to close this past month was Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital, which, according to the United Nations, was struck by a military attack on September 16 while 80 patients were present. Although the UN reported no fatalities from the strike, it caused damage to rooftop water tanks, communication systems, and medical equipment. The Israeli military did not provide an immediate response to requests for comment regarding this incident.
Israel maintains that Hamas utilizes hospitals for military operations, a claim vehemently denied by Hamas. International laws of conflict designate hospitals as protected sites, generally immune from attack except under highly specific, rare circumstances.
These closures leave a mere 14 hospitals functioning across Gaza, a territory where 2.2 million people have suffered through nearly two years of relentless conflict. Local health officials report over 65,000 fatalities, and vast areas of the territory have been obliterated. The Gaza health ministry, which provides casualty figures without differentiating between combatants and civilians, announced on Saturday that 77 lives were lost in the preceding 24 hours.
Of the 14 operational hospitals, eight are located in Gaza City, while the remaining six are distributed across the central and southern areas, specifically in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis.
The World Health Organization confirmed that hospitals in Gaza City are severely overburdened with casualties from military strikes, and facilities in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis are now overflowing due to the influx of people displaced from Gaza City.
Dr. Khalil al-Daqran, spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, reported on Saturday that the mass exodus from Gaza City has resulted in his hospital being ‘completely full of patients and the wounded.’
He described the conditions at the facility as ‘catastrophic,’ with patients receiving treatment in courtyard tents and many forced to lie on the floor. His concern extends to the potential for disease outbreaks, given that many residents in Deir al Balah are living ‘in tents surrounded by sewage, garbage, rodents and insects.’
Meanwhile, in Gaza City, Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, confirmed on Saturday that their facility remains operational. He noted that approximately 200 wounded and sick patients are currently being treated there, with more arriving daily as Israel’s offensive persists.
Dr. Abu Salmiya expressed that the ongoing military operations have severely hampered efforts to resupply the hospital, which was Gaza’s primary medical center before the conflict. Both staff and patients are reportedly anxious about potential evacuation orders from the Israeli military, a directive that has been issued at least twice previously during the war.