MSF's Response in Gaza

During the first days of the airstrikes on Gaza, MSF was able to continue coordinating medical activities. We continued support for Al-Awda hospital, Al-Nasser hospital and the Indonesian hospital in Gaza, while donating essential medicines and medical equipment. We scaled up our support of Al-Shifa hospital, opening an operating theater on Oct. 10 and boosting donations. At the same time, MSF set up a clinic in downtown Gaza City for people with other injuries. 

Following Israel’s evacuation orders on Oct. 13, MSF made the difficult decision to move our international medical staff to the south of Gaza. However, some of our Palestinian colleagues remain in Gaza and continue to provide care to the wounded at MSF-supported facilities and collaborate with local healthcare workers. Between the relentless bombing, our inability to deliver fresh supplies, the evacuation of the international team and the need to prioritize our Palestinian colleagues’ safety, we have since been unable to coordinate our activities.

At Al-Awda hospital, a team of nurses and doctors in MSF’s inpatient department is using the remaining medical supply stock in our warehouse. We also donated medical stock to support local health facilities including a donation to Al-Shifa hospital of approximately $1.5 million CAD worth of supplies during the week of Oct. 16.

While 26 tonnes of medical equipment destined for Gaza from MSF and the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived in Egypt on Oct. 29, MSF has managed to deliver another big international order to Gaza.

On Nov. 1, all 22 international MSF staff successfully crossed from Gaza to Egypt via the Rafah crossing, following negotiations for foreign passport holders and international aid workers to leave Gaza. A new multinational team of MSF staff, including a specialized emergency medical team, entered Gaza on Nov. 14 and will support MSF’s larger-scale response as soon as the situation allows. Meanwhile, many of our Palestinian colleagues continue to work and provide lifesaving care in hospitals and across Gaza amid extremely difficult conditions.

The West Bank
Amid an increase in violence in the West Bank, MSF is maintaining activities focused on emergency care and mental health support in Hebron, Nablus and Jenin.

Hebron
MSF’s mobile clinics around Masafer Yatta are currently suspended. Our team has prepared medical kits that will be distributed to around 40 MSF patients living with chronic diseases. Our medical team has performed phone assessments, referring people in need of medical, mental health or social services. Mental health services continue to be offered, mostly remotely. We have donated medical equipment to Alia hospital, to community contacts in Beit Omar, Al-Rshaydeh and to the emergency care center in Um El-Khair.

Nablus
Psychological first aid group sessions are being conducted in three districts in Nablus, Tubas and Qalqiliyeh. MSF provides psychotherapy, case management and psychiatric care to people living with moderate to severe mental illness in Nablus, Tubas and Qalqilya.

Jenin
MSF is providing mental health support and medications for patients with chronic diseases in detention centres as well as providing transport to health centres as needed. We have donated drugs and equipment to seven clinics to prepare for emergency births, in the event pregnant women will not be able to reach the hospital. In Nur Shams and Jenin refugee camps, we donated first aid kits to volunteer paramedics.
MSF is also supporting the Khalil Suleiman hospital, helping to build the staff’s capacity to respond to an increasingly violent context and its consequences on people’s health and lives.

We support the emergency room of the hospital situated next to Jenin camp for people who have been displaced, with medical supplies and a doctor. We also offer training for staff in mass casualty plans and emergency triage. Since Oct. 7, MSF teams have been providing trauma care, mental health support and essential donations to displaced communities.

MSF continues to assess the situation in hospitals across the West Bank.

Egypt and Lebanon
MSF has a team on standby in Egypt, ready to send medical supplies and staff into Gaza when permitted and able to do so safely. The emergency team includes medics, paramedics and logisticians. We are also in contact with the Egyptian authorities about launching activities in Egypt for potential refugees, if needed.

In the south of Lebanon, MSF preparedness support is still ongoing. The teams have done ‘multiple casualty plan’ trainings in two hospitals and are working to hold more. We are also looking at how we can offer support in the case of mass displacement into Lebanon. There are some displaced people already, but the numbers are not yet high enough to require our intervention.

What is MSF asking for?
MSF is advocating for:
• An immediate ceasefire that will spare the lives of Gazans and restore the flow of humanitarian assistance.
• A lifting of the siege to allow increased and continuous humanitarian supplies to cross into Gaza: essential supplies like medicine, medical equipment, food, fuel and water.
• Protection for civilians and healthcare personnel and facilities on both sides, at all times; hospitals and ambulances are not targets.
• Basic guarantees of safety to enable our teams to move around to provide humanitarian assistance and medical services to people who are sick and wounded.
• Access to essential supplies, including food and water, and access to health facilities.
• Basic guarantees of safety to enable civilians, who choose to, to leave Gaza without prejudicing their future option to come back