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"We can only imagine what the people in Gaza are enduring."
Israeli forces reportedly withdrew from the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday after launching the largest military assault on the illegally occupied territory in more than two decades, leaving in their wake destroyed roads, homes, medical infrastructure, and Palestinian lives.
The 10 days of raids in Jenin as well as Tulkarem and other areas of the West Bank have killed dozens of people, including a 16-year-old Palestinian girl, and wounded and displaced many more, compounding damage done by preceding months of violence by Israeli soldiers and settlers. Israeli forces were also accused of targeting journalists and healthcare workers during their raids.
Doctors Without Borders, known internationally as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said in a statement Thursday that the large-scale West Bank assault "severely" hindered "Palestinians' ability to access medical care" and forced the humanitarian group to suspend some of its operations.
One volunteer paramedic trained by MSF said she was "hit by munitions from the air and was injured above my eye and got shrapnel wounds" even though she was clearly identifiable as medical personnel. Another paramedic said Israeli forces stormed his home and assaulted him despite his efforts to make clear he was a healthcare worker.
"I informed them several times that I was a volunteer for medical organizations," the paramedic said, "but they dragged me out and kicked my back before pointing a weapon at my head."
Doctors Without Borders says they have to suspend operations in some parts of the WEST BANK.
Israel has normalized attacking medical workers and obstructing access to healthcare.
pic.twitter.com/SRUgKZeLvI
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) September 5, 2024
While Israeli soldiers appeared to have withdrawn from Jenin and other areas by Friday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) signaled that the assault was not yet over.
"Israeli security forces are continuing to act in order to achieve the objectives of the counterterrorism operation," the IDF said in a statement.
Residents who witnessed the latest raids and their aftermath firsthand described the indiscriminate nature of the IDF's assault, saying Israeli forces wantonly bulldozed roads, cut off water and electricity services, and attacked homes. The IDF said it ripped up roads to unearth explosives.
"It felt like Gaza," 36-year-old Lina Al Amouri toldCNN by telephone from Jenin. "All the streets were destroyed. Soldiers were everywhere, continuing to bulldoze everything around them, not just the streets."
Duha Turkman, an 18-year-old West Bank resident who sheltered in her aunt's home during the assault, said Thursday that "when we look at Gaza, we realize that we have been going through this for nine days, and it is already incredibly difficult for us."
"We can only imagine what the people in Gaza are enduring," said Turkman. "The situation here mirrors Gaza with airstrikes, bulldozing, and it doesn't seem like the situation will change anytime soon.”
Abu Sarur, a father of seven, toldThe New York Times that "there is no humanity."
"They uprooted the trees, broke the buildings," he continued. "The sewer mains meters under the ground, they ripped them up. The electricity, the water—they didn't leave anything untouched."
Reports of the IDF's withdrawal from Jenin came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to obstruct cease-fire talks to end the U.S.-backed war on Gaza and free the remaining hostages.
In a statement posted to Facebook late Thursday, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said that "in full view of the international community and countries that claim to uphold the principles of human rights, protection of civilians, and the two-state solution, the occupying state continues to reproduce its brutal crimes and scenes of destruction and devastation that it committed in the Gaza Strip, now transferring them to the occupied West Bank, as seen in Jenin and Tulkarm and their refugee camps."
"This is a clear targeting of Palestinian civilians and the foundations of their national and human existence on their homeland," the ministry added.
"It's a war on children," said a UNRWA spokesperson. "All we see here is children dying, children being killed."
Israel's U.S.-armed military struck another devastating blow to Gaza's increasingly weary, sick, and starving population on Wednesday by issuing evacuation orders for parts of Deir al-Balah, a city in the center of the enclave that was previously deemed a "safe zone."
Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian group known internationally as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), expressed outrage at Israel's latest forced evacuation of Palestinian civilians, many of whom have been displaced multiple times since last October. In the wake of the new orders, many Palestinians—children among them—were seen fleeing on foot with whatever belongings they could carry.
The forcible transfer of civilians is a crime against humanity under international law.
"The continuous forced displacement of people is inhumane," MSF project coordinator Jacob Granger said in a statement. "People have no belongings left, nowhere left to go. There is no room to put tents up. The overcrowding, severe lack of water, and minimal sanitation services are fueling the spread of diseases. We are unable to keep up with the overwhelming needs."
Julie Faucon, a medical coordinator with MSF, said the group's teams in Gaza "are seeing an increase in skin conditions such as scabies" as Israel's siege and relentless bombing force Palestinians to shelter in unsanitary, overcrowded areas of the strip. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Gaza's so-called "humanitarian zone"—which in reality is anything but—has shrunk to just 11% of the enclave.
"With the constant bombardments forcing people to seek shelter in a shrinking space," said Faucon, "conditions are worsening and diseases will continue to spread, impacting the most vulnerable, such as children."
An MSF radio operator who was displaced by Israel's latest evacuation orders said he and his family "are dismantling the tent and packing our things."
"My children are gathering their toys and belongings so they don't get lost," said Khamis Amir. "We don’t know where to go. When will this war end?"
Today, Israeli forces issued evacuation orders for Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis.
Thousands of people in Gaza are fleeing to different areas in Al-Mawasi. Among those fleeing are Doctors Without Borders staff. https://t.co/EGdx1127yU pic.twitter.com/yKX3CuolFK
— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) August 21, 2024
As the prospect of a lasting cease-fire appears increasingly remote—with the U.S. ceding to demands from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that are nonstarters for Hamas—the humanitarian emergency on the ground in Gaza continues to intensify amid ongoing Israeli bombings that are wiping out entire families.
Louise Wateridge, a senior communications officer for UNRWA, told the BBC on Wednesday that Gaza families "just do not know what to do."
"The frontline is near everybody," said Wateridge, who offered a horrifying account of the humanitarian situation in the besieged strip. "It's a war on children. All we see here is children dying, children being killed."
"The hospitals reek of blood; you can taste the blood in the air," she continued. "It's just a living hell."
"Today has been another day of horror in the #GazaStrip." @UNWateridge tells @BBCNews that #Gaza is a 'living hell' where children are killed every day.
With relentless bombings and nowhere safe to go, families don't know what to do and are constantly in fear for their lives. pic.twitter.com/wIgYeOiJ0E
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 22, 2024
UNRWA's Scott Anderson offered a similarly stark assessment of on-the-ground conditions in Gaza, telling CNN on Wednesday that "it's very disheartening when you see children looking through garbage trying to find something they can sell or eat."
Anderson also pointed to the alarming possibility of a mass polio outbreak in Gaza and noted that vaccination efforts have been made extremely difficult by the Israeli military's near-constant attacks and blockade.
Jude Senkungu, the International Rescue Committee's emergency health coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories, said in a statement Thursday that "the news of polio in Gaza should be an alarm bell that more infectious diseases are on the way."
"To prevent this public health crisis from leading to more preventable deaths, the vaccination campaign must be accompanied by a permanent and lasting cease-fire, and scaled-up humanitarian aid into Gaza," said Senkungu. "This requires safe and unobstructed access into and within Gaza through all crossing points for vaccinations, associated equipment such as cold chain storage, and specialist staff."
Al Jazeerareported Thursday that "the Israeli army is starting a new military incursion in the eastern areas" of Deir al-Balah, forcing families to seek out "any empty space of land to set up their makeshift tents despite the lack of humanitarian resources, including food and water."
UNRWA has said many of Gaza's water wells are located in areas newly evacuated by the Israeli military.
"We need to emphasize the fact that we have continued to hear loud explosions from last night until this morning, where the Israeli artillery units and fighter jets continue to target residential squares and key civil infrastructure in the city of Deir al-Balah," wrote Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from the area.
"The grim reality," he added, "is that bombardment is not only here in the central areas, but it continues to expand to the northern parts and to the south, where the military operations are still ongoing in Rafah and in the city of Khan Younis."
"Every necessary step must be taken to get mpox vaccines to the adults and children who need them now," said an epidemiological coordinator for Doctors Without Borders.
The international medical charity Doctors Without Borders on Friday appealed to wealthy countries that have stockpiles of mpox vaccines to immediately donate doses to several countries in Africa that have been affected by recent outbreaks, as global officials warned the spread of the disease is now a public health emergency of international concern.
The group, also known by its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), expressed support for the World Health Organization's (WHO) call for donor countries to help fund a coordinated response to the outbreak, including surveillance, building laboratory capacity, increasing community engagement, and guaranteeing access to treatments, vaccines, and testing.
The current outbreak has been reported mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the number of mpox cases this year has surpassed 15,600. More than 530 people have died of the disease this year.
Mpox has been reported in DRC for more than a decade, but with far fewer annual case numbers. More than 100 cases have also been confirmed in the past month in four neighboring countries which have not reported cases of the disease before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.
Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimated this week that at least 10 million doses of mpox vaccines will be needed to respond to the growing outbreak.
"We need to have vaccines," Kaseya told NPR. "Today, we are just talking about almost 200,000 doses [becoming] available. We need at least 10 million doses. The vaccine is so expensive—we can put it around $100 per dose. There are not so many countries in Africa that can afford the cost of this vaccine."
Without improved access to vaccines, said Justin Eyong, an intersectional epidemiological coordinator for MSF in DRC, "thousands of people—including children under 15 years old who are particularly affected by mpox (representing 56% and 79% of all cases and deaths from mpox in 2024, respectively)—may be left unprotected."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency have both approved the MVA-BN vaccine for mpox, which can cause a rash that can be painful and initially look like blisters, as well as fever, chills, and other symptoms.
"Mpox, originating in Africa, was neglected there, and later caused a global outbreak in 2022. It is time to act decisively to prevent history from repeating itself."
With the current price of the MVA-BN vaccine placing it out of reach for most low- and middle-income countries where mpox is endemic or is now spreading, MSF called on its manufacturer, Bavarian Nordic, to partner with African companies "for a full and timely tech transfer" that would allow a vaccine to be produced in Africa.
"With the mpox outbreak in DRC continuing to evolve rapidly, the situation is urgent," Eyong said. "Every necessary step must be taken to get mpox vaccines to the adults and children who need them now."
The current outbreak of mpox is being driven by one of the two genetic clades, or groupings, that characterize the disease. Clade II was behind an outbreak that was declared a global health emergency from 2022-23, but the current spread of the virus is being driven by clade I, which causes more severe disease.
Dimie Ogoina, chair of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee said Wednesday that the upsurge in cases is "an emergency, not only for Africa, but for the entire globe."
"Mpox, originating in Africa, was neglected there, and later caused a global outbreak in 2022," said Ogoina. "It is time to act decisively to prevent history from repeating itself."
Ogoina's comments were echoed by Ayoade Alakija, chair of the Africa Vaccine Delivery Alliance, who told The Guardian that if European countries were experiencing the current outbreak instead of African nations, "mpox would have already been considered a major international health emergency."
The declaration of an emergency "of international concern," said Alakija, "should focus minds and loosen purse strings so that the response recovers from a sluggish start."
Instead of confronting the threat of a potential new outbreak, said Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden, "the British government has spent more time actually stopping a pandemic treaty being agreed because it threatens Big Pharma power."
Policymakers in wealthy countries including the U.K. and the U.S. have objected to provisions in a pandemic treaty proposed by WHO, such as those that call for countries to donate vaccine doses to low-income countries or waive intellectual property laws for vaccines and treatments during a pandemic.
Such objections are "bad for all of us," said Dearden. "If we'd dealt with this internationally years ago, we could have prevented this dangerous new strain."
MSF called on WHO to accelerate its Emergency Use Listing (EUL) Procedure for two mpox vaccines that have been approved internationally, which would encourage manufacturers to increase production and allow agencies including the United Nations Children's Fund to distribute the vaccines.
The stockpiling of vaccines by "rich countries that do not need them," said economist Jayati Ghosh, "is exactly what the world does not need to confront this latest health threat."