As Israeli settlers and armed forces increase attacks across the West Bank in Palestine unabated, Palestinians are struggling to access basic health care due to movement restrictions, insecurity, and systematic violence.
While Israeli authorities have limited our capacity to respond to major health concerns, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has expanded mobile clinic activities in Hebron, including support for people’s mental health needs driven by facing intentional violence. We call on Israeli authorities to ensure unhindered access to health care and humanitarian assistance, and to halt all measures that force Palestinians from their homes.
Violence drives physical and mental health needs
Repeated attacks, displacement, movement restrictions, and deteriorating living conditions are impacting people’s physical and mental health in Hebron.
Ismail Ibrahim, a patient from outside Yatta, a city in Hebron governorate, says he has been attacked three times in recent months.
“Settlers sprayed pepper spray on my face while I was working in an olive grove the family had been raising for years,” he says. “They grazed animals among the olive trees, damaging the land, destroying and breaking the trees. When the police arrived, they told us we weren't allowed to speak to the settlers.”
“Every day the situation becomes worse,” Ibrahim adds. “Many people in our community have been attacked. Once [settlers] came at night and stole 200 sheep. We managed to recover only a few.”
At least 77 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers this year in the West Bank, according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). That’s already more than the number killed during the whole of 2025. Since March this year, between 17 and 38 percent of our psychological consultations were driven by events of intentional violence, compared to 13 percent or less at the beginning of the year.
Between January and July, MSF teams provided over 1,930 individual consultations for mental health and conducted 436 group therapy sessions through mobile activities and a fixed consultation room. In the same time period, our teams in Hebron also received nearly 170 alerts for incidents such as home demolitions, injuries, and attacks on the water and sanitation system. We launched 27 rapid responses, which can include mental health support and donating essential items like mattresses or tarpaulin.
Ismail Ibrahim, patient from Al-Deirat in Hebron
“You spend years raising olive trees and then someone destroys them right in front of you”
If we need to go to the hospital or to a clinic, we face many difficulties. We live along the bypass road, outside town. Transportation is very difficult. Even people who own cars struggle.
They close the gates and then if they stop you, they order you out of your car, sometimes they even take the car keys and make things extremely difficult, you'll be humiliated.
Growing barriers to medical care
In addition to the increasing violence, just reaching health care has also become increasingly difficult for many Palestinians due to checkpoints and road closures.
“Many patients tell us, ‘We tried to leave the H2 area, but we were turned back at the checkpoint,’” says Elisa Tamimi, MSF humanitarian affairs officer in Hebron. "Others tell us, ‘We tried to come, but there were settler attacks.’ Some say, ‘We simply cannot leave our homes.’ People in these communities continue asking MSF to return to their areas. This is especially true of patients living with chronic illnesses, those who are unable to leave their homes, and older people.”
“We have noticed a growing demand for our medical services because people are facing difficult economic conditions and cannot afford private health care,” says Dr. Mohammad Haroub, assistant medical coordinator for MSF in Hebron.
A shortage of health care workers compounds the issue. Following its offensive in Gaza, Israel has withheld billions of dollars of tax revenue from the Palestinian Authority. This has severely impacted the payment of health workers, resulting in medical staff working reduced hours, and in some cases, the closure of clinics.
“The limited availability of health services, and shortages of health care workers and medicines within the Ministry of Health, have created an additional burden,” says Dr. Haroub. “Some patients tell us they have been without medication for several days.”
Aisha*, patient from Al-Deirat in Hebron
“We are not asking for much”
Our home was demolished about 10 years ago. We had been setting it up, and then it was gone. We were forced to leave and buy another piece of land. We suffered a lot because of what happened. The burden has been economic, physical, and psychological.
We face difficulties in every aspect of life. Not long ago, the [Israeli] army detained me for more than an hour. I was taking my mother-in-law who has cancer to the hospital. They stopped the car and searched it and they questioned me. They kept asking me why and where I was going. I told them my mother-in-law was sick; she's old and depends on a walker and it's hard for me to lift her or move her around. [So] I had to take a long detour. Life has become a heavy burden because of settler attacks.
Continuing to operate amid uncertainty and constraints
Despite the constraints, between January and July, MSF carried out 7,595 medical outpatient consultations in Hebron, including 1,910 for sexual and reproductive health. In June and July, having expanded from five to eight mobile clinics, MSF teams provided 1,450 and 1,397 outpatient consultations respectively.
The most common issues people required health care for were gynecological conditions, non-communicable diseases, upper respiratory infections, and conjunctivitis.
This comes after deregistration by the Israeli authorities forced MSF to reduce more than half our mobile activities at the beginning of the year. This deregistration has limited our access to areas such as the militarized H2 neighborhood in Hebron City and villages in the hills of Masafer Yatta, which are prone to violence and attacks. To reach patients in communities MSF can no longer visit, we launched new clinics close to the edge of Area C, which is exclusively controlled by the Israeli forces, ensuring people there could still access our services.
“Israeli authorities must halt all measures that force Palestinians from their homes, ensure unhindered access to health care and humanitarian assistance, protect civilians, and comply with international law,” says Joan Tubau, MSF head of mission for Palestine.
Palestinians are not asking for much, Aisha adds: “I hope life can return to how it was before the war. I hope people can live with dignity. I want people to go out without fear, to have health care, education, and basic necessities.”
*Name changed to protect privacy
MSF responds in the West Bank
MSF teams are expanding mobile clinics in response to movement restrictions enforced by Israeli forces that have reduced access to health care.
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