Developing story
How we're responding to the war in Gaza
What to know about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and MSF’s medical and humanitarian response.
Developing story
What to know about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and MSF’s medical and humanitarian response.
After more than 15 months of war, Gaza has been left in ruins and the humanitarian needs more dire than ever.
Since the start of the war in October 2023, more than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, more than 111,000 wounded, and thousands are estimated to be buried under the wreckage. Over 1.9 million people—90 percent of the entire population—have been forcibly displaced, often many times. Water and food are still severely limited, essential supplies like fuel and electricity are scant, and as the threat of disease and starvation continues, lifesaving health care remains inaccessible. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are witnessing firsthand how this war has turned Gaza's chronic humanitarian crisis into a catastrophe.
Photo above: Palestine 2025 © MSF
surgical interventions
of logistic and medical equipment provided
inpatients admitted
With over 1,000 staff on the ground, our teams in Gaza provide surgical support, wound care, physiotherapy, maternity and pediatric care, primary health care, vaccination, and mental health services, as well as water distribution. However massive challenges and constraints related to supplies, displacement, and destruction of infrastructure are limiting our activities.
While Israeli authorities continued to impose obstacles and blockages for medical evacuations from Gaza, our teams have managed to successfully evacuate 13 child patients and 11 caretakers to our reconstructive surgery hospital in Amman, Jordan, where they receive comprehensive rehabilitative care for wounds sustained in Israeli airstrikes.
MSF staff have been working in Gaza’s hospitals and clinics throughout the war. Our teams provide a range of essential medical services including:
In over 15 months of war, our teams have continually adapted to extremely volatile conditions on the ground, including Israeli forces’ recurrent evacuation orders and sieges of various hospitals in the Strip.
From left: MSF teams respond to mass casualties at Al-Aqsa Hospital on June 8, Palestine 2024 © Karin Huster/MSF; a patient who gave birth at Nasser Hospital, Palestine 2024 © Mariam Abu Dagga/MSF
A dire lack of drinkable water, poor sanitation, and the destruction of water infrastructure have had dire consequences for people’s health in Gaza, including the spread of diseases and skin infections. This is why water distribution is an important part of MSF’s response.
In January 2025, MSF distributed 500,000 liters of desalinated water per day at more than 64 water points across Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, Rafah, and Deir al-Balah. Since the ceasefire was implemented, our teams have also started water trucking activities in the north to increase access. We are continuously working to increase distribution as drinkable water remains scarce in Gaza.
In Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, MSF has been implementing water and sanitation activities in camp shelters through a partnership with the Agriculture Development Association (PARC). This includes building latrines, distributing hygiene kits, and providing water treatment units. We also equipped a camp hosting 400 people with disabilities with accessible latrines and showers.
Since October 2023, MSF has provided 636 tons of logistic and medical equipment from our international supply centers—as much as 30 planes or 130 trucks full. However, some supplies critical to our operations and the security of our staff have been difficult to transport into Gaza, including generators, desalination stations and motor pumps, oxygen concentrators, vehicles, and equipment for communication.
The medical needs in Gaza are immense. Many Palestinians require urgent assistance—including people trapped under rubble, pregnant women who are about to deliver, and the elderly—and are not able to access the care they need. The core needs MSF is seeing and seeking to address include:
The collapse of health care infrastructure due to repeated attacks and lack of supplies has made medical care increasingly inaccessible as the overwhelming needs continue to grow. There have been more than 500 attacks on health care since the war started, according to OCHA, and out of the 36 main hospitals serving over 2 million people in Gaza, only 17 are functional—and only partially so.
War wounds, crush injuries, and burns treatment remain an urgent need as Israeli bombardment and attacks continue. But with very little capacity inside hospitals and a dire lack of medical supplies, people aren’t getting the care they need to heal properly or even survive.
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.
Infectious diseases including diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, skin infections, and hepatitis are on the rise due to overcrowding and poor hygienic conditions in camps where displaced people are sheltering, and shortages of medicines and medical supplies.
Starvation is inevitable under the Israeli government’s policy of deliberate deprivation, and we are already seeing the impacts of food insecurity and hunger. According to the Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC), almost half a million people (22 percent of the population of Gaza) are facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, and the high risk of famine will persist across the whole Strip as long as the war continues and humanitarian access remains restricted.
In addition to the destruction or closures of once-functioning hospitals, the decimation of infrastructure has created severe obstacles for pregnant women trying to reach medical facilities. Pregnant women are often forced to navigate unsafe routes amid the fighting and without safe transportation—often delaying access to health care and putting them at higher risk of complications.
Since the ceasefire in Gaza was implemented in January, MSF teams in the West Bank have observed an escalation of extreme violence, particularly in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas. Severe movement restrictions imposed by Israeli forces—including road closures, prolonged delays at checkpoints, and the installation of new gates at village entrances—are impeding people’s access to health care and basic needs. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that there have been 694 attacks on health care in the West Bank since October 2023, including obstruction of access, use of force, detention, and militarized search.
MSF teams in the West Bank are expanding efforts to reach communities where people are unable to access care, bolstering local emergency response, and addressing the needs of Gazans who have been stranded in the West Bank after losing their work permits in Israel. Our activities include:
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. 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.
92% of all housing units and 70% of all structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed
1.2 million people face emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 4 and 5)
Over 1,000 health workers have been killed
1.9 million people—half the population—has been displaced
Palestinians killed in Gaza in 15 months of war
MSF calls on Israel, Hamas, and other groups and organizations in control of Gaza, to respect the ceasefire agreement, as well the safe and secure delivery of humanitarian assistance to people. MSF has been continuously calling for a sustained and immediate ceasefire in Gaza since November 2023 along with other humanitarian actors.
Palestinians in Gaza need an immediate, massive scale-up of humanitarian response and unhindered access to aid. Israel’s obstruction must end, and Israeli authorities must ensure that humanitarian supplies can securely enter Gaza to reach those in need, including people in the north of the Strip, where over half a million Palestinians have returned to homes reduced to ashes, razed hospitals, and continued lack of essential services including water and health care.
As the occupying power, Israeli authorities are responsible for ensuring rapid, unimpeded, and safe access to humanitarian aid at a level sufficient to meet people’s needs. MSF calls for all parties to ensure safe routes to move humanitarian assistance into and around the Gaza Strip and for aid to reach those in need, including people in the north of Gaza. Everyone should have access to vital goods, such as fuel, food, water and medicines.
MSF remains committed to responding in Gaza and adjusting the scale of our activities as the situation develops.
Among more than 100,000 wounded people are thousands of patients requiring complex and sustained medical care that is not available in Gaza. MSF calls on Israeli authorities to protect the remaining health system in Gaza, as well as to ensure medical evacuations for people in need of lifesaving care and their caregivers. All medical referrals, patients, and their caregivers must be guaranteed safe, voluntary, and dignified return to Gaza.
MSF response in Gaza
549,337 outpatient consultations
124,328 emergency cases
40,652 people treated for diarrhea
11,789 surgical interventions
34,236 inpatients admitted
40,945 prenatal consultations
34,325 individual mental health consultations
49,993 non-communicable disease consultations
February 11 01:37 PM
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” says MSF emergency coordinator Caroline Seguin in a new Q&A about the situation in North Gaza.
Read moreJanuary 30 01:56 PM
A father’s story of hunger and tragic desperation in Deir al-Balah.
Read moreJanuary 29 09:00 AM
From locally sourced crutches to homemade pressure garments, MSF teams in Gaza are adapting amid continued supply shortages to treat wounded patients.
Read moreJanuary 28 08:14 AM
Over 15 months of all-out war on Gaza have left 92 percent of housing units and about 70 percent of all structures destroyed or damaged.
Read moreJanuary 24 10:40 AM
Bilal Okal and 10 of his family members were killed in December by an Israeli airstrike while sheltering in their northern Gaza home.
Read moreJanuary 18 08:00 AM
Israel must immediately end its blockade on Gaza and scale up aid to allow Palestinians to begin the long road to recovery.
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