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Surviving Gaza: the hopes and perils of living under blockade

Palestinian Territories 2021 © Fady Hanona

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Palestinian Territories

In 2020, COVID-19 exacerbated the health crisis in Palestine caused by the ongoing occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Our work in the Palestinian Territories

We provide medical and psychological assistance to people affected by the ongoing conflict in Palestine.

What's happening in the Palestinian Territories?

During the Great March of Return protests in Gaza in 2018 and 2019, thousands of people were shot—mostly in the legs—by the Israeli army, resulting in often horrific and complex injuries. Our teams provide surgical and post-operative care, including rehabilitation and mental health support, to people who were injured during the protests.

Our patients have been exposed to critical events, such as witnessing violence, raids on their homes, arrests, and deaths of family members, and consequently, they have developed anxiety, stress, and sleeping problems. We run mental health programs in Hebron, Nablus, Qalqilya, and Tubas offering psychological and social support to victims of political violence.

In our burns and trauma centers in the Gaza Strip, we treat patients, most of them children, the majority of them having burns from domestic accidents.

Our teams are currently responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

How we're helping in the Palestinian Territories

Gaza

The health system in Gaza has been crippled by the 10-year-long Israeli blockade and, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, was struggling to meet patient needs, due to severe shortages of essential medical equipment and supplies.

MSF continues to provide orthopedic care in Al-Awda hospital, in the north, and post-operative care, for both children and adults, at our outpatient clinics. Services include physiotherapy and mental health counseling to help patients through long and painful treatment processes. We also run several projects in Gaza dedicated to the treatment of bone infection caused by violent trauma. In 2020 we opened a new one at Nasser hospital, in the south.

We supported Ministry of Health teams in the European hospital when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, donating oxygen concentrators and offering training on oxygen management, patient support, and intensive care.

The West Bank

To support the overstretched health services in Hebron during the pandemic, MSF provided technical advice and training to hospital staff on personal protective equipment (PPE), infectious waste management, infection and prevention control, oxygen therapy, and intensive care in Dura and Alia hospitals, two facilities treating COVID-19 patients.

The occupation and associated violence continue to have a profound impact on the mental health of Palestinians. Our teams offered psychological support in Hebron, Nablus, and Qalqilya, adapting activities to respond to needs related to COVID-19, with remote counseling by phone temporarily replacing in-person support sessions. We extended our services to treat COVID-19 patients and their families, distributed hygiene kits and PPE, including face masks, and conducted health promotion activities in the most at-risk communities.

In late 2020, we began to run mobile clinics to provide health care in remote communities in the south of Hebron district.

SEE MORE

How we're helping in 2020

87,300

Outpatient consultations

2,650

Surgical interventions

335

Staff in 2020 (full-time equivalent)

1989

Year MSF first worked in the country

More news and stories

View more related news & stories

Learn about MSF’s journalistic roots and our commitment to bear witness and speak out about the plight of the people we treat.

Story May 20, 2022

Gaza: The wounds that don't heal

Read More
In 2021, Israel demolished 199 Palestinian homes in the West Bank, according to the Israeli human rights NGO B'Tselem.

Story May 06, 2022

Providing mental health care to Palestinians living under occupation

Read More
Woman with her child speaking to a medic.

Story Dec 28, 2021

2021: The year in photos

Read More

Learn about MSF’s journalistic roots and our commitment to bear witness and speak out about the plight of the people we treat.

View more related news & stories

How you can help

Not everyone can treat patients in the field. But everyone can do something.

Some humanitarian crises make the headlines—others don’t. Unrestricted support from our donors allows us to mobilize quickly and efficiently to provide lifesaving medical care to the people who need it most, whether those needs are in the spotlight or not. And your donation is 100 percent tax-deductible.

We need your support to continue this lifesaving work

We need your support to continue this lifesaving work

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