Aid and supplies are still being blocked from entering Gaza

Every day, we see impacts of the restrictions on entry of medical supplies into Gaza in our hospitals and clinics. The needs in Gaza are massive, yet not enough aid is entering because Israeli authorities are blocking it. Just outside of Gaza, there are trucks with food and medicine waiting, yet they are blocked. MSF has not been able to bring in any supplies since January 1, 2026.

Currently, we are struggling with a critical shortage in our stock of non-communicable disease (NCD) medications. Almost 50 percent of our essential chronic medications are critically low, including medications for diabetes, hypertension, thyroid gland conditions, and asthma and other respiratory diseases. This jeopardizes our ability to provide essential care for chronic diseases.

We have already had to stop accepting new patients for our NCD services, limiting the provision of care and dispensing medicine to our existing cohort of patients. Not being able to provide proper care will inevitably lead to preventable deaths of patients with chronic diseases.

Improvising as a last resort

We are also seeing a shortage of dressing material in our facilities, such as gauze and compresses, which will impact all our wound care-related activities — especially in our field hospital, where we provide dressing for surgical interventions, post-operative care, and trauma wounds. Having enough dressings is essential to avoid infected wounds or infected burns.

On average, we receive more than 100 patients who need dressing materials every day in the outpatient department at one of our field hospitals, as well as up to 30 burn patients admitted every day. 

Between August and September 2025, during the full blockade, we had to resort to using non-sterile gauze, which the team sterilized in batches. This is not an optimal procedure and may carry a risk of infection, but it is used as a last resort, and we are close to this point again now. We have been able to get some limited supplies of compresses from other MSF facilities, but this is not a sustainable option when there are not enough stocks across hospitals. 

Malfunctioning equipment with no spare parts

Another critical impact of these restrictions is the supply strain on medical equipment. We have not been able to enter any new equipment since the beginning of this year, which is putting huge stress on our teams and activities.

To give an example, two weeks ago, during surgery on a 2-year-old child, we had an incident where the orthopedic drill was non-functional, which was the only one that we have in the field hospital. The team had to find a replacement from another hospital, which delayed the surgery and caused stress among the team.

Since we cannot bring in new supplies or spare parts, malfunctioning equipment can mean having to postpone or suspend surgeries, which can have severe consequences for patients, impacting their recovery process or even leading to a disability or the worsening of a disability. We are completely dependent on the equipment that we already have inside Gaza, which has been used for a long time. Due to the high need and strain, we are seeing more malfunctioning equipment.

Our teams are working hard to continue providing care, but they are under immense strain. Dedication and last-resort solutions cannot replace a stable and unhindered entry of supplies. We need medical supplies and equipment to enter Gaza now.