How MSF is responding to the war in Gaza

Medical services

MSF has over 1,000 staff working in Gaza's hospitals and other health facilities, including our field hospital in Deir al-Balah and our clinic in Gaza City. Our teams provide surgical care, wound and burn care, malnutrition screening and treatment, maternal and pediatric care, physiotherapy, vaccination, mental health support, water and sanitation support, and care for non-communicable diseases, among other services. We are also providing rehabilitative care for war-wounded children we've managed to evacuate, including to our reconstructive surgery hospital in Amman, Jordan.  

Our teams work in health facilities across Gaza, including in the Strip's largest hospitals and our own clinics and field hospital. However, due to extremely volatile conditions on the ground—such as attacks on health facilities and recurrent evacuation orders—our teams have had to move from facility to facility and continually adapt our activities.  

Medical evacuations

MSF has supported over 120 medical evacuations from Gaza. Most of these patients were evacuated to Jordan for treatment at MSF’s reconstructive surgery hospital in Amman; the remainder were evacuated to Switzerland, Spain, and other countries in partnership with governing authorities. But this is only a drop in the ocean: More than 18,500 Palestinians are waiting to be medically evacuated, including children and elderly patients with severe burns and fractures, amputations, congenital anomalies, and other serious conditions. A clear, predictable medical evacuation system must be established urgently—with full respect to patients’ right to a safe, voluntary, and dignified return to Gaza. 

Israeli forces have decimated Gaza’s water network. Gaza has no independent means of producing drinkable water, as groundwater is too salty or contaminated by sewage and agricultural chemicals to be fit for human consumption. Israeli authorities have also blocked the entry of key water production supplies, leaving authorization requests for items like pumps, spare parts, and tanks pending for months. The establishment of the yellow line has exacerbated the lack of access to water, with key water infrastructure located within or close to the militarized zone. With boreholes near this mutable line, people risk their safety trying to access water points.

Water distribution and production

Lack of water is life-threatening and can contribute to health issues like diarrhea, jaundice, and scabies—all of which are on the rise in Gaza. Dehydration can be lethal and also makes it harder to recover from other diseases. This is why water and sanitation is a significant part of MSF’s response in Gaza. We carry out water trucking activities, establish distribution points, and provide technical support to desalination plants.

MSF has distributed or produced over 200 million gallons of water in Gaza. Since resuming activities in Gaza City, we have been able to scale up our support, producing 3.7 million gallons of water in the first three weeks of November alone.

Sanitation support

Our teams also work in partnership with PARC (the Agriculture Development Association) to provide sanitation support to a camp hosting 400 people with disabilities and camp shelters in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.   

The medical needs in Gaza are immense and urgent, not only for people wounded or burned in strikes but for children with malnutrition, pregnant women who are about to deliver, the elderly, and people with chronic diseases. At the same time, the provision of care has become even more challenging due to the systematic dismantling of Gaza’s health system, with repeated attacks by Israeli forces on health facilities and personnel, as well as shortages of essential supplies including vital medicines and medical equipment. The core medical needs our teams are seeing on the ground include:

Malnutrition

On August 22, 2025, the United Nations-coordinated Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system officially declared famine in Gaza governorate, in the north of the Gaza Strip, indicating a severe risk of malnutrition, with children being the most vulnerable. In hospitals and clinics, both patients and staff are fighting to survive on what limited food is available, often going days at a time without eating. In July, one in four young children and pregnant women screened at MSF clinics were malnourished, and the number of patients with acute malnutrition reached an all-time high at two MSF facilities. 

War wounds, crush injuries, and burn care

Many patients require care for war wounds, crush injuries, and burns sustained in bombings and other attacks by Israeli forces. MSF teams have seen an increase in the number of patients with burn injuries—most of them children. Many of these children were burned by bomb blasts; others by boiling water or fuel used for cooking or heating in makeshift shelters.  

Infections and diseases

Infections resulting from poorly treated wounds are a growing concern, driven by the difficulty wounded people face accessing care and follow-up, shortages of supplies, and lack of access to hygiene. There is also high risk of infectious diseases including diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, skin infections, and hepatitis due to overcrowding and poor hygienic conditions in camps where displaced people are sheltering, and shortages of medicines and medical supplies.  

Pediatric care

Even before the current war started, many years of instability had already taken a toll on the physical and mental health of Gaza’s children, leaving many with life-changing injuries, amputated limbs, and the trauma of losing parents and other loved ones along with their homes and schools. Children are also especially vulnerable to various health risks arising from insufficient access to water, food, and warm shelter.

Maternal care

Pregnant women in Gaza have been forced to navigate severe obstacles to reach medical facilities for prenatal care or delivery, including traveling dangerous routes amid fighting and without safe transportation, which can delay access to care and increase the risk of complications. Those able to reach a hospital often find them without capacity, and end up giving birth in deplorable conditions in plastic tents or public spaces; others must return to their makeshift shelters mere hours after undergoing cesarean sections. To date, MSF teams have assisted more than 16,000 deliveries in Gaza.

Medicines and medical supplies

Throughout the war, our teams operated under a severe shortage of medical supplies such as anesthetics, pediatric antibiotics, and medicines for chronic conditions like epilepsy, hypertension, and diabetes as a result of the blockade. Staff have been forced to ration medications and even turn some patients away because they don’t have the proper tools to treat them. 

The genocide in Gaza is part of a broader system of Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory. Just 30 miles away in the West Bank, Palestinians are being forcibly removed from their homes and land by Israeli policies deliberately designed to prevent any possibility of return. Violence against Palestinians by Israeli forces and settlers has become normalized and is escalating. Since October 2023, at least 1,046 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, including at least 221 children, according to OCHA.

Palestinians in the West Bank also face severe movement restrictions imposed by Israeli forces, including road closures, prolonged delays at checkpoints, and the installation of new gates at village entrances. These restrictions impede everyday life—from going to school to visiting friends and family—as well as access to health care and other services. 

MSF teams have witnessed these policies and practices at work for years. And with recent calls by Israeli authorities to fully annex the West Bank, the risk of ethnic cleansing has risen significantly. We urge all states with close political, military, or economic ties to Israel—including the US and European Union member states—to apply meaningful pressure to halt practices that harm and forcibly displace Palestinians, and to ensure an end to the occupation that is illegal under international law. 

MSF activities in the West Bank

Our teams in the West Bank are expanding efforts to reach communities where people are unable to access care, such as the north of the occupied territory and remote areas such as Masafer Yatta in the south. We aim to bolster the local emergency response capacity, including by training health care workers and teaching community members how to provide first aid in the event that they are unable to reach care when it’s needed. We also distribute relief items for Gazans who have been stranded in the West Bank after losing their work permits in Israel.  

Support for hospitals and clinics

MSF supports three Ministry of Health primary health care clinics in Jenin and Tulkarem and four hospitals in the Hebron area, as well as the emergency and maternity wards at Halhoul Hospital.

Training for health professionals and volunteers

MSF is training psychologists in Nablus in collaboration with the Palestinian Union of Social Workers and Psychologists; emergency health care workers in Nablus; and Palestine Red Crescent Society volunteers on first aid and first response. We also train community members on how to provide basic first aid, as health care access is often blocked.

Water and sanitation

We have supplied Khalil Suleiman Hospital in Jenin with over 2.5 million liters [66,000 gallons] of water and over 10,000 liters [over 2,641 gallons] of fuel. We also provide pipe installations and portable toilets for displaced people in Hebron. 

Mental health care

MSF provides psychological first aid, psychiatric care, and individual and group counseling, including for displaced people, vulnerable communities, and victims of sexual and gender-based violence. In Nablus, we have a mobile team focused on women’s and mental health operating in eight Ministry of Health primary health care centers.  

Mobile clinics

Our teams run daily mobile clinics covering more than 40 locations in Tulkarem and Jenin, and 17 mobile clinics in the Hebron area. These clinics provide primary health care, sexual and reproductive health care, and mental health support. We have a mobile team focused on women’s health and mental health operating in Ministry of Health primary health centers in Nablus. 

Distribution of relief items

MSF distributes hygiene kits, food parcels, bedding, diapers, and clothing for displaced people in Jenin and Tulkarem; and hygiene kits to residents of Al Far’a camp through UNRWA.  

MSF does not currently run medical programs in Israel but offered its support to Israeli hospitals treating large numbers of casualties following the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. We focus on filling the greatest gaps in health care, and Israel has strong emergency and health systems. 

MSF provides medical care to anyone who needs it, regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation. As an organization, we focus on filling the greatest gaps in health care.  

To facilitate our humanitarian and medical work, we speak to all parties to the conflict to request safe, rapid, and unimpeded access to civilians who require medical care and to ensure the safety and security of our staff. Our independence and impartiality are essential to our work in all the places we operate across the globe. We also believe that the principles of impartiality and neutrality are not synonymous with silence. When the world turns its back on crises, we are duty-bound to raise our voices and speak out on behalf of our patients. Our decision to do so is always guided by our mission to do no harm, preserve respect and dignity, and protect life and health.   

Read more frequently asked questions about our work in Gaza >> 

The genocide in Gaza has been carried out not only through killing, detentions, and direct attacks, but also through the systematic destruction of infrastructure and denial of the means to survive—food, water, shelter, health care, fuel, and livelihoods. This genocide must stop, and the blockade must be lifted to allow the delivery of independent humanitarian aid at scale. 

The blockade on Gaza must end. Unconditional, unrestricted, and impartial aid must be allowed to enter the Strip freely. Deliberate and arbitrary restrictions, bureaucratic hurdles imposed on humanitarian organizations, and the introduction of a militarized, politicized approach to aid distribution have severely constrained the humanitarian response in Gaza, with devastating consequences. Aid is not a bargaining chip. It is a lifeline. Denying it is collective punishment—a war crime. 

All governments, including the US, must stop sending weapons that are being used to commit genocide in Gaza.  

States have a responsibility to prevent genocide and to ensure that the weapons they provide are not being used to harm civilians, violate human rights, or commit war crimes. Day after day, our medical teams treat patients with terrible injuries caused by Israel’s use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas. These arms transfers are fueling the mass killing of civilians, demolition of vital civilian infrastructure, and the systematic destruction of the health system in Gaza. The hypocrisy is stark: States cannot claim to uphold humanitarian values and express empty words of concern for Palestinians while supporting a military campaign that is destroying the conditions of life in Gaza. 

MSF demands the immediate protection of medical workers and health facilities, the immediate release of detained health workers, and full respect for international law. We call for independent investigations into violations, including the killing of our own staff and members of their families, and urge Israel’s allies to increase pressure to end the collective punishment of Palestinians and to ensure accountability for these crimes. 

A clear and predictable medical evacuation system must be urgently established—with safe passage, no family separation, and safe and voluntary guaranteed return to Gaza after treatment. Countries must open their doors to patients trapped in Gaza who need specialized, lifesaving care. They must prioritize evacuations based on medical urgency and clinical need, including accepting adults and the elderly, who make up 75 percent of the waiting list.