MSF operations in Gaza

Hospitals where MSF currently works

Al-Aqsa Hospital, Deir Al-Balah

Status: Active MSF operations

After leaving on January 6 due to fighting near the premises and Israeli forces' evacuation orders, the MSF team returned to Al-Aqsa Hospital in February to resume activities including acute trauma surgery, advanced wound care, post-operative wound care, physiotherapy, health promotion, and mental health support. We provided 5,800 wound dressings between February 7 and April 4, including 83 percent caused by war-related trauma. 

Emirati Hospital, Rafah

Status: Active MSF operations

MSF is supporting the Emirati Hospital with medical supplies and gynecologists, nurses, and hygienists working in round-the-clock shifts, providing postpartum care and management of pregnancy complications. The team built an extension of the maternity department in the hospital’s parking lot to increase the postpartum department’s capacity. Since the start of our activities at this hospital in January 2024, we have admitted 6,053 patients. 

Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital, Rafah 

Status: Active MSF operations

We provide outpatient and inpatient care at Rafah Indonesian Hospital six days per week, conducting about 130 consultations per day. Our work includes post-operative care for patients with war wounds including trauma and burns, as well as dressing changes, physiotherapy, and counseling. We provide 50 dressings per week under light sedation to relieve pain during painful procedures, especially for children.

Hospitals where MSF no longer works

Al-Awda Hospital, northern Gaza

Status: Evacuated (though MSF and MSF-supported staff continue to work autonomously)

The last remaining main hospital in northern Gaza is barely functional. A strike on the hospital in early October killed at least five hospital staff, including two MSF doctors, while they were caring for their patients. In December, Israeli forces besieged the hospital and one of our colleagues was wounded inside after a sniper reportedly fired on him. When Israeli forces took control of the hospital after heavy fighting, they detained all men and boys over 16 years old, with six MSF staff among them. After interrogations, most were sent back into the hospital and have been working there autonomously since. Our colleagues in northern Gaza report shortages of all kinds of goods and difficult working conditions.  

Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City

Status: Destroyed

Following a 14-day operation by Israeli forces that ended on April 1, Al-Shifa Hospital was left in ruins and is no longer functional. It is not possible for MSF to resume our activities at Al-Shifa in the near future. 

Indonesian Hospital,* northern Gaza 

Status: No MSF staff

MSF staff were forced to leave the Indonesian Hospital at the outset of the war due to increasing bombardment in the area and Israel’s progressive ground invasion. We cannot provide any updates on this facility or the situation inside, and we are not aware of any patients or hospital staff still inside.  

*Not to be confused with the Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital in southern Gaza 

Nasser Hospital, Khan Younis

Status: Evacuated, though some MSF staff remain working voluntarily

Nasser Hospital was the main surgical center in southern Gaza and the second largest in the whole Strip. MSF staff were forced to flee in mid-February and leave patients behind after a shell struck the hospital and Israeli forces ordered the evacuation of the facility before raiding it. One MSF staff member was detained and released after nearly two months.

MSF staff visited the hospital premises in mid-April, aiming to re-evaluate the situation, assess damage, and resume orthopedic surgery activities and support for the emergency room in collaboration with the World Health Organization and Ministry of Health. Depending on the results of this assessment, MSF also plans to resume laboratory activities. 

European Gaza Hospital, Khan Younis

Status: MSF operations suspended

MSF left the European Gaza Hospital in early March, as access was becoming more difficult each day due to insecurity. On at least two occasions, staff could not reach the hospital.

Prior to MSF's departure, our plastic surgeon and nurses saw 20 to 30 patients per day for wound dressings, and worked in the operating theater providing debridement, flap surgery, and sutures. Many patients were children with trauma and severe burn injuries that have become infected due to the lack of access to medical care. MSF continues to collaborate with the facility for patient referrals to Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital. 

Al-Najjar Hospital, Rafah

Status: MSF operations suspended

MSF discontinued surgical activities at Al-Najjar Hospital on February 29 and wound care activities on March 14. Our team of five Palestinian staff (including three surgeons and two nurses) had been working at the hospital since January 22. 

Al-Mawasi Health Post, Rafah

Status: Active MSF operations

The MSF team at Al-Mawasi provides general practitioner consultations, prenatal and postnatal care, mental health care, physiotherapy, and dressing changes for wounds. We also conduct malnutrition screenings for children under five and pregnant and lactating women. At the end of January, we established a primary health care clinic inside of two trucks, conducting about 400 consultations a day. 

As of April 4, 2,728 people have been screened for malnutrition, with 0.6 percent showing symptoms of severe acute malnutrition and 3.8 percent with moderate acute malnutrition.

Al-Hekker Primary Health Care Center

Status: Status: Active MSF operations

In mid-April, MSF opened a new primary health care center in Al-Hekker to provide outpatient services, including general consultations, vaccination, reproductive health care, wound dressing, health promotion, and mental health care such as psychological first aid, individual and family therapy sessions, and psychoeducation. The team has carried out 250 consultations per day.

Al-Shaboura Clinic, Rafah

Status: Active MSF operations

On December 9, MSF resumed our work at Al-Shaboura Clinic, gradually scaling up activities. Our team provides outpatient services including general consultations, vaccination, reproductive health care, wound dressing, health promotion, and mental health care including psychological first aid, individual and family therapy sessions, and psychoeducation. We’re also conducting systematic malnutrition screenings among children under five years old and pregnant and lactating women. 

Since the start of the project in January 2024, MSF has conducted more than 36,000 medical consultations (first and follow-up), including more than 15,000 pediatric cases.  

MSF Clinic in Gaza City 

Status: Active MSF operations

MSF has repaired our clinic near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after it was damaged and has since resumed activities. The team focuses on wound dressings and physiotherapy. Depending on the security situation and operational possibilities, MSF aims to send more supplies to the north and start scaling up activities in the coming weeks. 

Facilities where MSF no longer works

Martyrs, Beni Suhaila, and Mascat clinics

Status: MSF activities suspended

After Israeli forces ordered the evacuation of the area on December 1, we were forced to end our support for Martyrs and Beni Suhaila clinics, where we had been providing basic health care, wound dressing, and mental health consultations. 

Drinkable water is scarce in Gaza—even more so than before this war. In response, MSF has provided around 300 cubic meters of clean water a day throughout Rafah and we continue working to increase this quantity. On March 28, MSF set up a new desalination plant in Al-Mawasi. 

MSF teams are also supporting nine water distribution points, all near informal camps of internally displaced people. We are providing a total of 110,000 liters of water each day to 20,625 people (about 3,500 families). 

At two water distribution points in Al-Mawasi, MSF teams have provided 7,600 liters of water to 5,067 people six days per week since January 30.

MSF has delivered about 200 tons of medical supplies each month, including medicines, surgical kits, logistical items, and humanitarian aid. As of mid-March 2024, we have brought in 53 trucks carrying essential supplies.

It has been extremely difficult to get supplies into Gaza due to administrative barriers, movement restrictions, and the lack of options for crossings. Our teams in Egypt are ready to send more medical supplies into Gaza if allowed to do so safely. 

Hebron

In the Hebron area, MSF teams are running mobile clinics, providing mental health support, building capacity for emergency response, and working on advocacy and protection in addition to supporting hospitals and four health care centers.

SUPPORT FOR HOSPITALS

MSF supports the maternity unit and emergency room at Halhoul Hospital, and has increased emergency room capacity at Al Moktaseb Hospital. We also support and train medical staff at Al Moktaseb, Halhoul, Dura, and Yatta hospitals in the Hebron area.

We are supporting various hospitals with donations and first-aid kits for community focal points in Beit Omar and Al Rshaydeh, and the emergency care center in Um El Khair. 

MOBILE CLINICS

In response to increasing disruptions to health care access, MSF is expanding our activities to bring health care to people who are unable to reach medical facilities. Our mobile clinics now reach a total of 10 locations covering areas outside and inside Hebron's Old City, as well as in the remote villages of Masafer Yatta in the southern West Bank.  

The MSF team has also increased health promotion activities and the distribution of relief items, hygiene kits, and food parcels to internally displaced Gazans and West Bank residents affected by violence and forcible displacement. In the past four months, MSF distributed 44 family food parcels to displaced people, filling the gap while they register for long-term assistance. We also deliver portable toilets and pipe installations to displaced people. 

MSF provides mental health care through individual and group therapy as well as psychiatric consultations in Nablus, Qalqiliya, and Tubas despite challenging circumstances, particularly regarding movement restrictions imposed by Israeli forces.

In collaboration with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, MSF has trained about 450 new volunteer paramedics as first-aid response providers. In the last week of April, MSF began training emergency room doctors and nurses in three hospitals to increase the capacity of Ministry of Health staff in trauma response. 

MSF teams are currently supporting the emergency rooms at Ministry of Health hospitals in Jenin (Khalil Suleiman Hospital) and Tulkarem (Thabet Thabet Hospital) governorates.

In Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, we equip paramedics with donations and training so they can stabilize patients during active hostilities in case ambulances are not able to reach them.

In December, we started supporting the Ministry of Health’s emergency response plan by setting up stabilization points in pre-existing health facilities and training the staff in trauma care. 

The ceasefire resolution passed by the UN Security Council on March 25 was not implemented, which renders it little more than political theater. Israeli forces continue to carry out widespread attacks that disproportionately impact civilians, and have confirmed an imminent invasion of Rafah that would be catastrophic for over one million people who are trapped there after being forced from their homes elsewhere in the Strip. Palestinians in Gaza are suffering every day from an all-out destructive military campaign that blatantly ignores the rules of war. 

Attacks against hospitals and civilians must stop now. Since the beginning of this war, MSF has seen a pattern of systematic attacks against medical facilities and civilian infrastructure. The health system in Gaza is being dismantled while the immense needs grow more dire each day. The duty of treating the sick and wounded—and the correlating protection of medical personnel and facilities—is at the core of international humanitarian law. 

The Israeli government's policy of deliberate deprivation—only allowing a trickle of food and water to enter Gaza—has led to widespread, deadly starvation and an imminent famine. Yet access restrictions by Israeli authorities prevent us from providing essential aid at scale. We cannot afford to wait for the emergency to get worse before taking action. Israeli authorities must lift the inhumane and unlawful siege and allow more medical supplies to enter Gaza, including anesthesia, so health workers can provide a basic standard of care.  

Airdrops and sea routes are no alternative to aid delivery by land. In MSF’s experience, airdrops are notoriously ineffective and can increase the risks for people who need the aid, especially in situations of war and chaos. Efforts to open a maritime corridor merely create an illusion of sufficient support for the needs of Palestinians. These methods are not any kind of solution to the extraordinary humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The food, water, and medical supplies so desperately needed are sitting just across the border. Israel needs to facilitate rather than block the ground flow of supplies. 

On January 26, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued provisional measures for Israel to take to prevent a plausible genocide in Gaza, including allowing humanitarian aid into the Strip. Yet we are witnessing a worsening situation in Gaza and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, medical and aid workers, and health facilities continue. All states that support these actions by Israel are morally and politically complicit. We call all on governments, particularly the US, UK, and allied EU member states, to do whatever in their power to influence Israel and stop supporting the ongoing siege and bloodshed. 

Medical evacuations out of Gaza should be facilitated without prejudice to Palestinian’s right to return. Medical referrals must resume. Israel must resume issuing medical referral permits for treatment in the West Bank and Jerusalem for severe cases that cannot be treated in Gaza. All medical referrals, patients, and their caregivers must be guaranteed safe, voluntary, and dignified return to Gaza.