Latest news with #MSF
Days of Palestine
2 days ago
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
Seeking Food in Gaza Must Not Be ‘Death Sentence,' Says MSF
DayofPal– Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF) has condemned a deadly and dysfunctional aid delivery system backed by Israel and the United States in the Gaza Strip. The group denounced the killings of Palestinians seeking food, calling the situation 'carnage' and warning of a collapsing healthcare system amid ongoing Israeli military operations. In a statement issued late Tuesday, MSF urged the immediate protection of civilians attempting to access aid, as desperation mounts across the besieged enclave. 'Every day Palestinians are met with carnage in their attempts to receive supplies from the insufficient amount of aid trickling into Gaza,' the group said. 'Seeking food should not be a death sentence.' The statement followed one of the deadliest days in Gaza since the start of the humanitarian crisis, with at least 60 Palestinians killed and over 200 injured near an aid distribution site in Khan Younis, according to Gaza health authorities. Survivors and witnesses described Israeli forces targeting large crowds with shelling and gunfire as they waited for flour and basic supplies. 'I saw people torn to pieces; it's a disaster,' said Dr. Wafaa Abu Nemer, an MSF pediatrician. 'Seeking food should not be a death sentence.' According to Gaza Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal, Israeli drones and tanks opened fire on civilians who had gathered along the eastern road through Khan Younis in hopes of receiving aid. 'Israeli drones fired at the citizens. Some minutes later, Israeli tanks fired several shells at the citizens, which led to a large number of martyrs and wounded,' Bassal reported. Survivors offered harrowing accounts of the attack. 'Tens of thousands of hungry civilians gathered for the aid. Two Israeli shells were dropped in the middle of the crowd. Dozens of civilians, including children, were killed, and no one could help or save lives,' said Saeed Abu Liba, 38, in a video shared on social media. 'May God punish the Israelis for their crimes.' Another witness, Yousef Nofal, described the aftermath as a 'massacre.' 'I saw many people motionless and bleeding on the ground,' he said. 'Israeli soldiers continued firing on people as they fled the area.' Mohammed Abu Qeshfa, another survivor, said he narrowly escaped. 'I heard a loud explosion followed by heavy gunfire and tank shelling. I survived by a miracle,' he said. Since the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating on May 26, Israeli attacks on its distribution points have reportedly killed more than 397 civilians and injured over 3,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. GHF was established to bypass the UN's longstanding aid infrastructure in Gaza, but has drawn criticism from humanitarian organizations for exacerbating the crisis. Aid groups have accused the foundation of violating humanitarian principles by restricting deliveries to central and southern Gaza, requiring civilians to travel long distances on foot, and failing to meet even basic needs. Most major aid organizations, including the United Nations, have distanced themselves from GHF. The UN confirmed that Israel continues to block food and humanitarian assistance, with only a limited number of trucks reaching the territory, far from sufficient to meet the needs of Gaza's 2.3 million residents. On March 2, Israel shut Gaza's primary border crossings, effectively sealing off food, medicine, and emergency supplies. Human rights groups have accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war. An Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report published last month projected that nearly a quarter of Gaza's population faces imminent famine-level conditions (IPC Phase 5), the most severe classification of food insecurity. 'In this horrific situation, nothing can replace Nasser Hospital, the last remaining lifeline in the South,' said Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF's emergency coordinator. 'But the hospital is over-capacity and running on limited supplies; it is dangerously close to breaking point.' As scenes of starvation, displacement, and death continue to emerge from Gaza, MSF has warned that using humanitarian aid as a tool of war could amount to grave international crimes. 'Weaponizing aid in this manner may constitute crimes against humanity,' the organization stated. Shortlink for this post:
Days of Palestine
2 days ago
- Health
- Days of Palestine
Your silence is not neutrality': MSF accuses European governments of enabling atrocities in Gaza
DaysofPal – Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) has issued a scathing condemnation of European governments over their role in the devastation unfolding in the Gaza Strip. In a dual communication, a formal press release and an open letter to European leaders, the medical humanitarian organization accuses the European Union and its member states of hypocrisy, moral failure, and direct complicity in Israel's war on Gaza. More than eight months into Israel's military campaign, MSF warns that Europe's continued support has deadly consequences for civilians and that the continent's moral standing is being eroded by its failure to uphold basic principles of international humanitarian law. 'You have watched Israel obliterate a health system you helped build,' the open letter states. 'You have witnessed your own citizens and staff being killed, detained, and tortured. You have seen hospitals bombed, ambulances destroyed, and entire families annihilated. And yet you continue to back this war politically, financially, and militarily.' A war waged with European support MSF emphasizes that more than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities, the majority of them women and children. The group describes a landscape of catastrophic destruction: hospitals systematically targeted, medical staff killed, patients operated on without anesthesia, and children undergoing amputations without painkillers. In its press release, MSF accuses Europe of trying to separate its humanitarian efforts from its political and military alliance with Israel, a contradiction MSF calls untenable. 'How can you send aid with one hand and supply the weapons that destroy it with the other?' the statement reads. 'How can you express concern for civilian lives while criminalizing and defunding the very organizations trying to save them?' MSF facilities attacked, staff killed and detained MSF directly accuses Israel of repeatedly targeting its facilities and medical teams. In recent months, MSF-supported hospitals have been shelled, convoys fired upon, and health workers detained. In at least one case, an MSF surgeon was arrested and reportedly subjected to abuse while in Israeli custody. Despite having shared the GPS coordinates of its premises with Israeli authorities, the group says its clinics and convoys have been bombed, patients and staff have been killed, and entire medical operations shut down due to the attacks. 'Health care in Gaza has been brought to its knees,' the group said. MSF's sharpest criticism is aimed at European governments' dual role as self-proclaimed defenders of human rights and as supporters of Israel's military campaign. The open letter and statement describe how EU states have continued to supply arms, intelligence, and diplomatic protection to Israel, even as the siege has caused famine, mass displacement, and the collapse of the health system. According to MSF, Europe has criminalized Palestinian solidarity and slashed funding to important humanitarian partners under the pretense of counterterrorism and neutrality. 'You cannot continue to support this war and claim to stand for humanitarianism, international law, and human rights,' the open letter reads. 'Your words of concern are meaningless when your actions enable the killing of civilians and the destruction of a health system.' A Call for Immediate Action MSF is urging European leaders to take concrete and immediate action to end their complicity in the ongoing atrocities in Gaza. This includes suspending all political and military support to Israel, demanding a permanent ceasefire, and ensuring the immediate and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to the population under siege. The organization also calls on European governments to uphold international legal accountability by pursuing justice for attacks on civilians and aid workers, including those targeting MSF staff and facilities. 'Your silence is not neutrality,' the letter states bluntly. 'It is a green light for the continuation of mass atrocities.' MSF argues that European governments cannot maintain credibility as defenders of the rules-based international order while facilitating the destruction of Gaza and punishing those who speak out against it. 'You say you are committed to humanitarianism. But your inaction and your double standards are contributing to the erosion of that very system.' The letter ends on a sobering note, warning that the world is watching not just the destruction in Gaza but also Europe's complicity in it. The longer European governments remain passive or enabling, MSF says, the greater the cost, not just in Palestinian lives, but in the collapse of a global moral and legal framework. 'We ask you to act,' the letter concludes, 'not only because of what is happening in Gaza today, but because of what it means for all of us tomorrow.' Shortlink for this post:
Zawya
3 days ago
- Health
- Zawya
Escalating insecurity forces Médecins sans frontières (MSF) to close Ulang hospital in South Sudan
After two violence incidents earlier this year, MSF has been forced to close our hospital in Ulang county, South Sudan, and end our support to 13 community-based health facilities. This has left 150,000 people with less access to healthcare, in an area where MSF's maternal services are a lifeline. All parties to conflict in South Sudan must adhere to international humanitarian law, cease such indiscriminate attacks, and ensure the protection of medical facilities, health workers, and patients. People in remote areas of Upper Nile state in South Sudan are suffering from a lack of access to healthcare, since attacks on medical boats and armed looting in medical facilities since the beginning of the year have forced Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to close our hospital and end our support to 13 community-based healthcare facilities in Ulang county. The closure of MSF's hospital has left an area of more than 200km from the Ethiopian border to Malakal town without any functional specialised healthcare facility. MSF calls on all parties to adhere to international humanitarian law, cease such indiscriminate attacks, and ensure the protection of medical facilities, health workers, and patients. Since February 2025, South Sudan has experienced its worst spike in violence since the 2018 peace deal. Fighting between government forces and armed youth militias has escalated across multiple states, including Upper Nile, Jonglei, Unity, and Central Equatoria. This has led to mass displacement, widespread civilian casualties, and a total collapse of already fragile public services. Despite these closures, MSF remains dedicated to supporting the healthcare needs of displaced and vulnerable people in Ulang and Nasir counties. We have a mobile emergency team assessing needs who are prepared to provide short-term healthcare services wherever security conditions and access allow. MSF continues to provide healthcare services in our other projects in Upper Nile state, including in Malakal and Renk counties. An escalating trend of violence against healthcare In January 2025, MSF faced an attack by unidentified gunmen near Nasir, shooting at our boats as they returned from delivering medical supplies to Nasir County hospital. This attack forced us to suspend all outreach activities in Nasir and Ulang counties, which included medical referrals by boat along the Sobat River that allowed women to deliver their babies safely. In April 2025, armed individuals forced their way into the hospital in Ulang where they threatened staff and patients and looted the hospital so extensively that MSF no longer had the necessary resources to continue operations safely and effectively. 'They took everything: medical equipment, laptops, patients' beds and mattresses from the wards, and approximately nine months' worth of medical supplies, including two planeloads of surgical kits and drugs delivered just the week before. Whatever they could not carry, they destroyed,' says Zakaria Mwatia, MSF head of mission for South Sudan. Within a month, another MSF hospital was bombed in Old Fangak, a town in the neighbouring Jonglei state, leaving the facility completely non-functional. This is part of a worrying rise in attacks on healthcare facilities in South Sudan. Local communities depended on MSF for prenatal care 'During my third pregnancy, I decided to come to the hospital well in advance before my delivery. I lost my two first children because I did not make it to the hospital on time,' says Nyapual Jok, a young mother from the outskirts of Ulang county. Nyapual had been transported to the hospital by one of MSF's boat ambulances, since she lives in a remote village far away from Ulang hospital. Ulang, a vast flood-prone area, is characterised by spotted remote villages which often suffer severe mobility restrictions during the rainy seasons. MSF ran boat transportation services to ensure access to healthcare to mothers like Nyapual. 'It's very hard to access healthcare here. If we had a hospital closer during my previous deliveries, maybe my children would be alive today,' adds Nyapual. Nyapual shared her story in November 2024, only two months before the attack on the same boats which helped her deliver her baby safely. Facility closures create gaps that are difficult to fill The attacks' effect of stopping medical referrals by boat has had fatal consequences for the people living in remote areas in the region. People in Ulang and Nasir counties had to wait for days, sometimes even weeks, to get a boat to take them to Ulang hospital. In desperate situations, they would walk for days through a muddy landscape – a land that is nearly impossible to cross on foot during rainy season. 'She was in labour when she suffered birth complications – she had to get to a hospital as soon as possible,' says Veronica Nyakuoth, an MSF midwife at the Ulang hospital, about a patient she attended to in the maternity ward. 'Normally, MSF mobile teams would have been able to pick her up by boat, but since that service was cut off, instead she had to wait two days for a private boat to take her. When she finally made it to Ulang hospital, it was too late: the team could not find a heartbeat from the twins she was carrying in her womb.' 150,000 people cut off from care With the closure of the hospital and the withdrawal of support to the decentralised facilities including transportation of patients, more than 150,000 people will now face even more difficulties accessing healthcare in Ulang county and more might face the tragic fate that Veronica's patient had to suffer. Over 800 patients with chronic illnesses such as HIV, tuberculosis, and others have lost access to treatment due to the closure of MSF services in the area. 'We need a hospital nearby that can help mothers and children. Without it, many will suffer and lose their lives,' says Nyapual. MSF in Ulang Since 2018, MSF had been providing vital health services in Ulang including trauma, maternal and paediatric care. The teams also supported 13 facilities to offer essential healthcare services. Over the past seven years, MSF teams carried out more than 139,730 outpatient consultations, admitted 19,350 patients, treated 32,966 cases of malaria, and assisted 2,685 deliveries, among other essential services. During this time, MSF also provided support to Nasir County hospital and responded to multiple emergencies and disease outbreaks. Nyapual's story, along with those of many others, serves as a stark reminder that healthcare is a fundamental right and should never be a target. The consequences of attacks to healthcare are more than the damage to a building; it's the loss of hope, safety, and the chance for a healthier future. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Médecins sans frontières (MSF).
The Journal
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Journal
European 'empty rhetoric' is not enough to stop Israel's 'ethnic cleansing' of Gaza, MSF says
THE EUROPEAN UNION has the political, economic, and diplomatic means to stop Israel's 'calculated evisceration of the very systems that sustain life' in Gaza, and 'empty rhetoric' is not enough. That's what European government leaders have been told in an open letter written by the heads of the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), eleven of whose staff members have been killed during the 20 months of war on the besieged Palestinian territory. Dr Christos Christou, MSF International's president and Christopher Lockyear, the NGO's secretary general, described Israel's campaign against the Palestinian people in Gaza as 'ethnic cleansing, wrapped in the rhetoric of security defence'. 'On a daily basis, MSF teams witness patterns consistent with genocide through deliberate actions by Israeli forces – including mass killings, the destruction of vital civilian infrastructure, and blockades choking off access to food, water, medicines, and other essential humanitarian supplies,' they wrote. Israel is systematically destroying the conditions necessary for Palestinian life. This pattern of violence and disregard for international humanitarian law, the said, 'shows that this war run by Israel in Gaza is against Palestinians as a whole'. Israel stands accused of committing genocide in Gaza in a case taken by South Africa at the International Criminal Court. It has also been accused of genocide by NGOs Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has also described Israel's actions in Gaza as genocidal. Despite these allegations, European support for Israel has remained steadfast, with some exceptions. Last month, some European states closely allied with Israel openly criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war and the ongoing military operations and settlement expansions in the occupied West Bank. That tone has since shifted back to support for Israel in the wake of its attack against Iran last Friday, which has also drawn attention away from the plight of the people of Gaza. Weaponising aid MSF pointed to the spate of massacres that have been committed by Israeli forces while hungry people have been waiting for humanitarian aid handed out by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation(GHF), an organisation the UN and NGOs refuse to work with. Advertisement 'The GHF launched its activities on 27 May, as part of the US-Israeli plan that instrumentalises aid,' the letter reads. 'Since then, hundreds of Palestinians have been treated in hospitals, and scores have been killed, after being shot at these aid distribution sites while waiting to receive basic necessities for survival. 'Humanitarian aid is being weaponised. It is being used as leverage to forcibly displace people, to meet military objectives, or blocked entirely. Aid is not a bargaining chip. It is a lifeline. 'Denying it is collective punishment – a war crime.' Yesterday, Israeli forces killed 34 people near a GHF distribution site. Today, Israeli forces killed at least 51 people and wounded more than 200 while they waited to get flour from a UN site. The war in Gaza is becoming ever more deadly and devastating. In what's become a macabre daily routine, more desperately hungry people were gunned down today, as they tried to collect food aid from the new US and Israeli backed distribution centre. — Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 16, 2025 'Empty rhetoric' 'The European Union and European governments have the political, economic, and diplomatic means capable of exerting real pressure on Israel to stop this assault and open Gaza's border crossings to unhindered humanitarian aid,' the MSF letter said. 'These are not theoretical instruments; they can be effectively mobilised in defence of international law and to protect civilians. The letter noted the recent rebukes of Israel by European leaders. 'Yet these words ring hollow, as they fail to take the substantive action needed to stop the slaughter, and hypocritically continue to provide weapons to Israel that kill, burn, or permanently disable the people who end up in our hospitals. This must stop.' MSF said the words and actions of European leaders are 'a test of your credibility and leadership'. Now is a moment that will define your legacy and determine whether laws meant to protect civilians in war retain any meaning at all. 'It requires political courage, legal responsibility, and moral commitment. The scale of suffering in Gaza demands more than your empty rhetoric. 'Every delay, every equivocation, and every policy that permits the machinery of devastation to roll forward with impunity is an act of complicity.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Middle East Eye
4 days ago
- Health
- Middle East Eye
Humanitarian organisations fear for lives of people in Gaza as spotlight shifts to Iran
A number of humanitarian organisations have told the British parliament they fear colleagues in Gaza will 'die in the dark' as focus shifts from Gaza to Iran, The Guardian reported on Monday. Organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) spoke about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. In the opening session, MP Emily Thornberry said Gaza had "gone off the news and it's not like things aren't happening. It's important that we put information before the public'. Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns at MAP, said, 'This has been the darkest and most terrifying period of the attacks so far'. Talbot said his colleagues "worry they will die in the dark' after Israel cut the internet in the territory last week. The field coordinator for MSF, Anna Halford, said they have struggled to understand the situation on the ground because of the communication blackout in north and central Gaza. Halford said there had been almost 500 community hubs where people could obtain food in Gaza for the first 19 months of the war, but now there are only four. In addition, the organisation only had four aid trucks enter the territory since 27 May, Halford said. 'There is nothing humanitarian about this system,' she said. 'We are weeks away from having to make choices about quality of care, because there won't be any care to provide.'
