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doctors without borders
As Gaza Water Crisis Worsens, Israel Bombs Critical Facility in Possible War Crime
"This station was one of the most important remaining sources of clean water in Gaza City," said an activist who has used it to supply desperate families.
Jul 06, 2026
As Gaza is gripped by a water crisis, Israel has reportedly attacked a facility that provided safe drinking water to thousands of families in Gaza City.
Tamer Nahed, a journalist and activist with the recently created humanitarian group Sake For Gaza, reported via social media on Monday that his group had been forced to suspend its efforts to provide clean water to some of Gaza's most dangerous areas after the facility they partnered with was "directly struck, resulting in the deaths of several people and injuries to others working there."
Middle East Eye reported on Monday that the attack, east of Gaza City, "struck a gathering of displaced people in front of a water refilling station" and killed two people as Israel shelled the city early on Monday.
The Palestinian outlet Al-Quds said the attack "directly targeted civilians as they stood in front of a water filling station" in the Al-Samar area, and was "part of a series of attacks launched by the occupation forces against civilian gatherings and vital facilities in the besieged areas of the Gaza Strip, exacerbating the already deteriorating humanitarian crisis."
Under international law, deliberately attacking civilian facilities or those that are essential for survival, like water facilities, is considered a war crime.
Israel has destroyed or damaged nearly 90% of water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which says the military has used water as a "weapon" in its genocidal war against Gaza.
The group has documented the military firing upon clearly marked trucks and destroying boreholes and desalination plants relied on by thousands of residents. The group has also documented attacks on civilians accessing clean water.
A late-May report from the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) found that around 82% of families in Gaza remain water insecure, and up to 70% are unable to collect even six liters of water per person each day. A person needs between 50 and 100 liters of water per day to meet their most basic needs, according to the World Health Organization.
Monday's attack came less than an hour after Nahed announced that the group's 11th truck had "reached one of Gaza’s most dangerous areas, carrying 5,000 liters of fresh drinking water."
The group had been attempting to send one truck per day to families living in tent cities, many of whom have been forced to rely on groundwater and contaminated water in order to survive, leading to serious illness.
Nahed said he and his team "truly risked our lives to reach this place, as it is located very close to military deployment areas, and the road was extremely dangerous at every moment."
He called the attack on the water supply facility "very heartbreaking news" and said as a result, "we have been forced to suspend our water distribution project until further notice."
"This station was one of the most important remaining sources of clean water in Gaza City and served as a lifeline for thousands of families, especially after most other water stations had stopped operating," he said. "We are deeply saddened by the loss of life and by the suspension of a project that was providing clean drinking water to people enduring these extremely difficult conditions."
Monday's attacks were some of the latest of Israel's near-daily strikes despite October's ceasefire agreement. Israel has expanded its control over the Gaza Strip in recent months, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying last week that the military “will not withdraw from the territory" as the agreement requires.
He added on Sunday that unless Hamas fully disarms, there also would be "no reconstruction in Gaza without dismantling and demilitarizing the strip."
Netanyahu described the occupation zone as a "new Gaza envelope inside of Gaza," a term that could refer to permanent occupation or annexation, as the term "Gaza envelope" refers to the communities inside Israeli territory near the Gaza border.
Other ministers in Israel's far-right government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have called for Israel to complete the "conquest" of Gaza and move Israeli settlers to replace the Palestinian population.
A recent proposal by the "Board of Peace," led by US President Donald Trump, conditioned the entry of basic humanitarian supplies, including shelter-building material, reconstruction aid, and other life essentials, on the total disarmament of Palestinian militant groups.
Last week, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that “the continued expansion of areas under Israeli control in Gaza since the ceasefire agreement in October 2025 is intensifying risks to civilians and further constraining humanitarian efforts."
“Humanitarian access remains severely constrained due to restrictions on movement, which results in delays or pauses in lifesaving activities,” the statement said. “Some partners have had to scale down or temporarily suspend lifesaving activities, particularly following the killing of service providers in those areas. This has affected up to thousands of families in the vicinity.”
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Medical Teams Still Struggling to Treat Gaza Malnutrition Crisis 'Entirely Manufactured' by Israel
"Every six months, we might get a food parcel once. It's barely enough," said one mother. "We are forced to eat whatever is in front of us."
May 07, 2026
A ceasefire was declared between Israel and Hamas seven months ago, but just as the deal has not stopped the killing of hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza, it has failed to alleviate the acute malnutrition crisis that was created when Israel began blocking almost all humanitarian aid in October 2023.
The international aid group Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), on Wednesday accused Israel of imposing a "manufactured malnutrition crisis" that is proving particularly devastating for pregnant and breastfeeding women, newborns, and infants.
At four clinics operated by MSF in Gaza between late 2024 and early 2026, medical teams found higher levels of miscarriage among mothers who experienced malnutrition.
The group also analyzed data on 201 mothers of newborns who required treatment in neonatal intensive care units at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis and Al-Helou Hospital in Gaza City between June 2025 and this past January. More than half of the mothers had been affected by malnutrition at some point in their pregnancy.
Ninety percent of the babies had been born prematurely and 84% had low birth weight.
"Neonatal mortality was twice as high among infants born to mothers affected by malnutrition compared to those born to mothers without malnutrition," said MSF.
Samar Abu Mustafa, a displaced mother from Abasan al-Kabira, said she was diagnosed with malnutrition while pregnant with her 3-month-old baby.
"I don't know how I will provide diapers and milk, nor how I will provide food for my other daughters. There is no income and no support," said Abu Mustafa. "There is nothing apart from food parcels from the World Food Program and community kitchens. Every six months, we might get a food parcel once. It's barely enough. It is all rice and lentils. We are forced to eat whatever is in front of us."
"For a long time, we haven't eaten anything nutritious and the baby does not get enough milk from me, so I am forced to provide formula, but I don’t have money for it," she said. "I have just one remaining can of milk."
Mercè Rocaspana, MSF's medical referent for emergencies, emphasized that malnutrition in the exclave was "almost nonexistent" before Israel began bombarding Gaza and blocking humanitarian aid—an action Israeli and US officials persistently claimed Israel was not taking before the ceasefire was reached, even as the number of deaths from starvation climbed to nearly 500.
“The malnutrition crisis is entirely manufactured,” said Rocaspana. "For two and a half years, the systematic blockade of humanitarian aid and commercial goods, on top of insecurity, have severely restricted access to food and clean water. Healthcare facilities have been forced out of service and living conditions have profoundly deteriorated. As a result, vulnerable groups of people are at heightened risk of malnutrition.”
Before the war, there were no dedicated therapeutic medical feeding units in Gaza's hospitals, but MSF teams admitted more than 500 infants under six months of age to outpatient feeding programs between October 2024-December 2025—programs that the bombardment has made impossible for many families to complete.
"Of those admitted, 91% were at risk of poor growth and development. By December, 200 infants were no longer in the program—only 48% of them were cured, while 7% died, another 7% were referred to a program for older children, and a staggering 32% defaulted due in part to insecurity and displacement."
The 20-point ceasefire agreement stipulated that at least 600 aid trucks must enter Gaza daily and that border crossings must be reopened, but as Common Dreams reported in April, five leading aid groups gave "humanitarian aid access" a failing grade in a scorecard rating conditions in Gaza six months after the deal was reached.
Israel was still restricting deliveries, and food items sold in Gaza were anywhere from 3% to 233% more expensive than they were before the war started.
Al Jazeera's Hind Khoury reported Thursday that only 150 aid trucks are being allowed in daily.
Last week, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that while there's been a 72% increase in the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire was brokered, 11% of coordinated humanitarian missions are still being denied.
"Many lives have been saved in Gaza because of scaled up humanitarian effort since the ceasefire. But much more to do: We need to sustain access, protection of civilians, neutrality, and partnership," said Tom Fletcher, UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs.
Gaza: Six months into the ceasefire, hunger continues to shape daily life and malnutrition levels remain high.@WFP is on the ground supporting those most in need, but aid alone is not enough for full recovery. pic.twitter.com/gABZySEjFI
— United Nations (@UN) May 6, 2026
Sahar Nafez Salem, who lives with her children in a tent in Khan Younis, told MSF that her family has been relying on a charity kitchen to eat.
"We eat lunch from it and save some for dinner," she said. "We try to manage getting lunch for our poor children every Friday, so we can bring them joy, but all week long, almost everything is from charity kitchens... The last time I received aid was during Ramadan... There is rice and lentils... Other things, like vegetables, are expensive. We can't get them all the time. So sometimes we go without vegetables for months."
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Israel Gives 'Mass Expulsion Order' to Civilians as It Invades Southern Lebanon
As it pushes further into Lebanon, Israel ordered around 200,000 people living south of the Litani River to "immediately" flee.
Mar 04, 2026
Israel ordered residents in southern Lebanon to "immediately" leave their homes as it advanced troops further into the country on Wednesday, prompting "serious concern" from the United Nations as its assault on the country ramps up.
"Residents of southern Lebanon—you must move immediately to areas north of the Litani River," Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted in Arabic on X as Israel escalated a campaign of airstrikes and moved troops into several villages.
The region south of the Litani River spans hundreds of square kilometers and makes up about 9% of Lebanon's total territory, according to the Associated Press.
Around 200,000 people live in the area south of the river, which has served as the beginning of a buffer zone between Israel and Hezbollah since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2006 as part of United Nations Resolution 1701.
On Monday, Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "have approved for the military to advance and seize additional controlling areas in Lebanon and to defend the border settlements from there."
According to Nora Ingdal, Save the Children’s Country Director for Lebanon, evacuation orders given by Israel as it entered villages in the past three days have created a situation of "pure chaos" for civilians forced to flee their homes.
Lebanon's Ministry of Social Affairs reported that about 58,000 people, including an estimated 16,000 children, had already been displaced as of Tuesday.
"Our team is hearing cases of children across Lebanon sleeping in cars, on cold pavements, and in partially damaged classrooms with cracks in the walls, while parents are sitting on the side of the streets crying, exhausted from little sleep after being unable to get into proper shelters with their children," Ingdal said.
Sana Kawtharani, a community health educator for Doctors Without Borders, described the impossible choice that over 12,000 people had to make after being ordered to leave the town of Sarafand on Tuesday, after having sought shelter there earlier.
"We know how hard it is to leave our home, our people, our villages, and our memories," Kawtharani said. "Around us in the neighborhood, some were forced to leave because they have children and elderly who are terrified by the sound of Israeli shelling."
"They carried what they could and left in cars, not knowing where they were going," she said. "There are children, the elderly, and the sick stuck on the road in very harsh conditions."
Israeli attacks in Lebanon since 2023 have killed more than 4,000 people and injured more than 16,000, according to the Lebanese health ministry, which says most of the victims have been civilians. More than 370 have been killed since a ceasefire in November 2024.
"This war began 15 months ago, and until today, it hasn't stopped," Kawtharani said. "Every day there is shelling, despite everything we hear about a ceasefire, but this has not been implemented on the ground."
Israel’s evacuation order for all of southern Lebanon came following an intensification of airstrikes overnight around Beirut the previous evening, which killed at least 12 people according to state media.
On Tuesday, Israel also reportedly carried out another "double-tap" strike in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon, killing three paramedics with the World Health Organization (WHO) and injuring six more who were in the process of helping others wounded in a previous strike.
Though Lebanon was already being struck by Israel on a near-daily basis despite the 2024 ceasefire, hostilities exploded over the weekend following Israel and the United States' attack on Iran, sparking retaliatory strikes on Israel from the Iranian-aligned militia Hezbollah.
According to Middle East Eye, Israel had authorized a barrage of strikes on Lebanon even before the first retaliatory rockets and drones were fired by Hezbollah following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Israel has not reported any deaths from Hezbollah's attacks, though two soldiers sustained moderate injuries on Wednesday from anti-tank fire in southern Lebanon.
According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli strikes on dozens of sites across the country have killed at least 72 people and wounded 437 as of Wednesday.
Lebanese media reported on Wednesday that Israeli troops have pushed into the town of Khiam, which is roughly six kilometers from Israel’s border, marking their furthest advance into the country since the war broke out in 2024.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the peacekeeping force that has operated in southern Lebanon for nearly 50 years, said on Wednesday that it had “serious concern” about Israel’s order “demanding evacuation of the civilian population from UNIFIL’s area of operations to north of the Litani River.”
UNIFIL said on Wednesday that “peacekeepers observed today several [Israel Defense Forces] movements and military activities, including near El Khiam, Beit Lif, Yaroun, Houla, Kfar Kila, Kherbeh, and Kfar Shouba. All of these are happening while Israeli airstrikes and other air activities continue.”
It said these actions "not only violate Resolution 1701, but also Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity."
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Israel's Attack on Aid Organizations in Gaza Is an Attack on Palestinian Survival
What emerges is a coherent strategy: first, producing dependency through siege, destruction, and institutional dismantling; then, weaponizing that dependency by controlling or withdrawing the means of staying alive.
Jan 03, 2026
Israel’s decision to halt the operations of 37 international aid groups marks a dangerous escalation in its ongoing genocidal campaign, which has destroyed Gaza’s capacity to sustain life through bombardment and siege, and now moves to deprive survivors of the last remaining forms of assistance.
While framed as an administrative measure, this latest move cannot be understood in isolation. It is the culmination of a longer process that has unfolded over the past two years, as Israel has systematically dismantled the humanitarian and medical infrastructure sustaining Gaza’s civilian population.
By defunding and delegitimizing The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the primary agency tasked with aiding Palestinian refugees; and by leveling accusations against humanitarian and health personnel, in the absence of meaningful global pushback, Israel has further entrenched a longstanding system of weaponized aid.
While the Israeli government initially framed the suspension of aid groups as being linked to their failure to comply with new registration requirements, it later noted in a statement that the process was “intended to prevent the exploitation of aid by Hamas, which in the past operated under the cover of certain international aid organizations, knowingly or unknowingly.”
Such criteria not only regulate aid work; they effectively silence dissent, conditioning the ability to deliver humanitarian assistance on political conformity.
Israel has long accused Hamas of exploiting humanitarian aid, despite such claims having repeatedly been debunked, including by senior Israeli military officials themselves.The new regulatory framework extends well beyond technical compliance. It introduces explicitly political and ideological conditions for aid delivery, disqualifying organisations that have supported boycotts of Israel or engaged in “delegitimization campaigns.”
Such criteria not only regulate aid work; they effectively silence dissent, conditioning the ability to deliver humanitarian assistance on political conformity.
UNRWA Test Case
The dismantling of UNRWA was a critical test case. For decades, the agency served as the backbone of civilian life for Palestinian refugees, providing healthcare, education, food assistance, and social services, under conditions of Israeli occupation and siege.
After October 7, 2023, Israel intensified its efforts to recast UNRWA not as a humanitarian agency operating under an international mandate, but as a political problem to be neutralized.
Allegations that a limited number of UNRWA employees were affiliated with Hamas, or involved in the October 7 attacks, were rapidly generalized into claims about the organisation as a whole. These claims triggered sweeping donor suspensions—including the immediate freezing of US funding, among UNRWA’s largest sources of support—illustrating how fast states are willing to act on evidence-free allegations from Israel, whose overall goal is to avoid global scrutiny of its crimes.
The persecution of UNRWA thus demonstrated how easily a central pillar of the humanitarian system can be dismantled, setting the stage for what would come next, as Israel launched a broader attack on international aid groups operating in Gaza.
In the months that followed, Israel blocked UNRWA’s operations on the ground and passed legislation criminalizing its activities across historic Palestine.
The response from the international community was striking in its weakness: While some donors ultimately resumed funding to UNRWA, no binding enforcement mechanisms were activated, nor were any serious political costs imposed on Israel.
The persecution of UNRWA thus demonstrated how easily a central pillar of the humanitarian system can be dismantled, setting the stage for what would come next, as Israel launched a broader attack on international aid groups operating in Gaza.
The consequences of this latest move are devastating. For decades, such organizations have provided essential services, amid the systematic degradation of civilian infrastructure and repeated assaults on healthcare in Gaza. Groups like Doctors Without Borders and Medical Aid for Palestinians offer vital resources for emergency and trauma care, along with other key services to sustain Gaza’s fragile health system, at a time when many hospitals are damaged or out of service.
Buffers Against Collapse
The centrality of international aid groups to Gaza’s survival is itself a measure of the depth of destruction imposed on Palestinian society. Such actors have long operated in spaces where Palestinian institutions have been dismantled, and political solutions deferred.
In the absence of an end to Israel’s occupation and siege, their presence has become one of the few remaining buffers against total collapse. In the context of an ongoing genocide and the destruction of the infrastructure required to sustain life in Gaza, stripping away the remaining humanitarian presence amounts to a direct assault on survival itself.
The Israeli government has sought to downplay the impact of the suspensions by asserting that the targeted organisations “did not bring aid into Gaza throughout the current ceasefire, and even in the past their combined contribution amounted to only about 1% of the total aid volume.”
In Gaza, where Israel has already destroyed the material conditions of life, the suspension of humanitarian operations completes this logic.
But this calculation of material aid fails to capture the nature of the work and services these groups have provided, including specialized medical care, trauma surgery, rehabilitation for injured and disabled people, psychosocial and mental health services, and sustained institutional support to keep Gaza’s collapsing health system functioning.
In 2025 alone, Doctors Without Borders carried out nearly 800,000 outpatient consultations and treated more than 100,000 trauma cases in Gaza, while Medical Aid for Palestinians made many critical interventions, including through expanded cancer care in the territory’s north.
Israel’s 1% calculation, which has not been independently verified, reduces humanitarian impact to quantitative supply indicators, rather than lifesaving capacity. To present these organizations as marginal is not a factual assessment, but a narrative designed to normalize their removal.
What emerges is a coherent strategy: first, producing dependency through siege, destruction, and institutional dismantling; then, weaponizing that dependency by controlling or withdrawing the means of survival.
In Gaza, where Israel has already destroyed the material conditions of life, the suspension of humanitarian operations completes this logic. This is not a failure of humanitarianism, but part of a broader genocidal strategy, where the regulation and withdrawal of aid is used to render survival itself increasingly impossible.
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Critics Warn Israeli Ban on Aid Groups in Gaza 'Will Cost the Lives of Palestinians'
"Such arbitrary suspensions make an already intolerable situation worse for the people of Gaza," said the United Nations human rights chief.
Dec 31, 2025
Human rights defenders warned Wednesday that a new Israeli ban on dozens of international humanitarian groups from operating in Gaza will have a "catastrophic" impact on Palestinians already reeling from more than two years of Israel's genocidal war and siege.
The government of fugitive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza—announced Tuesday that 25 humanitarian groups would be suspended from operating in Gaza starting January 1 if they did not comply with new requirements including providing detailed information on their staff, funding, and operations.
Israeli authorities say, largely without evidence, that the new rules are needed because some humanitarian workers are terrorists, and because Hamas is diverting aid—a claim refuted by Israeli military officials.
By Wednesday, the number of banned groups increased to 37. Targeted groups include ActionAid, Handicap International, Doctors Without Borders sections from six European countries, two Oxfam chapters, International Rescue Committee, American Friends Service Committee, World Vision International, Norwegian Refugee Council, Mercy Corps, Defense for Children International, two Caritas branches, and CARE.
"Israel’s suspension of numerous aid agencies from Gaza is outrageous," United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk said Wednesday in Geneva. "This is the latest in a pattern of unlawful restrictions on humanitarian access, including Israel’s ban on UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, as well as attacks on Israeli and Palestinian NGOs amid broader access issues faced by the UN and other humanitarians."
"I urge all states, in particular those with influence, to take urgent steps and insist that Israel immediately allows aid to get into Gaza unhindered," Türk continued. "Such arbitrary suspensions make an already intolerable situation even worse for the people of Gaza."
"I remind the Israeli authorities of their obligation under international law to ensure the essential supplies of daily life in Gaza, including by allowing and facilitating humanitarian relief," he added.
European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness, and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib said Wednesday that Israel's move "means blocking life-saving aid."
"The [European Union] has been clear: The NGO registration law can not be implemented in its current form," Lahbib added. "All barriers to humanitarian access must be lifted."
British Member of Parliament Andrew Pakes (Labour-Peterborough) said on social media that "the Israeli government banning desperately needed aid from Gaza is not a sign of a working ceasefire."
"This, at a time of extreme weather and lack of shelter," he added. "We need accountability more than ever. And immediate help to save lives."
Doctors Without Borders—which also goes by its French acronym, MSF—told Reuters Tuesday that "if MSF is prevented from working in Gaza, it will deprive hundreds of thousands of people from accessing medical care."
Norwegian Refugee Council spokesperson Shaina Low said, "At a time when needs in Gaza far exceed the available aid and services, Israel has and will continue to block life-saving aid from entering."
British emergency physician Dr. James Smith—a health activist with Medact and the People's Health Movement and member of the Global Sumud Flotilla—told Al Jazeera Wednesday that many of the proscribed groups "have been working in Gaza for decades."
Smith noted that Doctors Without Borders this year "managed more than 22,000 operations," adding that "if international NGOs were de-registered, then approximately a third of healthcare facilities" in Gaza "would be forced to immediately close."
This, after Gaza's healthcare infrastructure has been systematically obliterated by Israel's assault and siege.
"It's going to be catastrophic," warned Smith. "A situation that is already horrific will be made more horrific. The changes will be immediate, and they will be ruthless."
Smith called the aid group ban "an extension of Israel's longstanding strategy of titrating humanitarian access and humanitarian services as a core pillar of the occupation and of the genocide."
Since 2007, Israel has maintained a blockade of Gaza, severely limiting the entry and exit of people and goods into the Palestinian exclave. The blockade was tightened even further when Israel imposed a "complete siege" on the strip following the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023.
According to UN data, Israeli forces have killed at least 579 aid workers—including nearly 400 UNRWA staffers—since October 2023. Israeli bombs and bullets have also killed over 1,700 health and medical workers, upward of 140 civil defense personnel, and more than 250 journalists.
Overall, Israel's war and siege have left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing in Gaza, and most Gazans forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened.
In recent weeks, more than a dozen Palestinians, including numerous children and infants, have died of hypothermia.
On Tuesday, Red Crescent Society in Gaza warned of a growing outbreak of hepatitis A and gastroenteritis caused by contaminated drinking water.
The International Court of Justice—which is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa—last year issued a provisional ruling ordering Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and affirming an earlier order to prevent genocidal acts. Israel has been accused of ignoring these and other ICJ orders.
Responding to the Israeli ban, Refugees International vice president for programs and policy Hardin Lang said in a statement Tuesday that "this action will cost the lives of Palestinians."
"Gaza is in the heart of winter, with hundreds of thousands of people living in makeshift shelters, damaged buildings, or the open air after repeated displacement," Lang noted. "Removing these humanitarian organizations now will deepen exposure, illness, and preventable deaths. The targeted organizations provide much of the core relief capacity in Gaza, particularly on healthcare services."
"The suspension is not motivated by a sincere desire to prevent diversion of aid; it is a pretext to further restrict aid to Gaza while silencing independent aid organizations," he continued. "The Israeli government’s broad claims about systemic aid diversion have never been backed up with credible evidence—as even senior US government officials have publicly acknowledged."
"Under US and international law, parties to a conflict must allow and facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of impartial humanitarian relief," Lang added.
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Many in Gaza to 'Lose Access to Critical Medical Care' as Israel Suspends Doctors Without Borders
"The humanitarian response in Gaza is already highly restricted, and cannot afford further dismantlement," the renowned organization warned.
Dec 30, 2025
The Israeli government said Tuesday that Doctors Without Borders, one of the largest medical organizations currently operating in Gaza, is among the 25 humanitarian groups that will be suspended at the start of the new year for their alleged failure to comply with Israel's widely criticized new registration rules for international NGOs.
According to the Associated Press, Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs "said the organizations that will be banned on January 1 did not meet new requirements for sharing staff, funding, and operations information." The Israeli government specifically accused Doctors Without Borders, known internationally as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), of "failing to clarify the roles of some staff that Israel accused of cooperation with Hamas and other militant groups," AP reported.
In addition to providing medical assistance to desperate Palestinians, MSF has been an outspoken critic of what has it described as Israel's "campaign of total destruction" in Gaza. The group said in a report released last December that its teams' experiences on the ground in Gaza were "consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organizations concluding that genocide is taking place."
Ahead of Tuesday's announcement, Doctors Without Borders warned that the looming withdrawal of registration from international NGOs "would prevent organizations, including MSF, from providing essential services to people in Gaza and the West Bank."
"With Gaza’s health system already destroyed, the loss of independent and experienced humanitarian organizations’ access to respond would be a disaster for Palestinians," the group said in a statement last week. "The humanitarian response in Gaza is already highly restricted, and cannot afford further dismantlement."
"If Israeli authorities revoke MSF’s access to Gaza in 2026, a large portion of people in Gaza will lose access to critical medical care, water, and lifesaving support," the group added. "MSF’s activities serve nearly half a million people in Gaza through our vital support to the destroyed health system. MSF continues to seek constructive engagement with Israeli authorities to continue its activities."
Pascale Coissard, MSF's emergency coordinator for Gaza, noted that "in the last year, MSF teams have treated hundreds of thousands of patients and delivered hundreds of millions of liters of water."
"MSF teams are trying to expand activities and support Gaza’s shattered health system," said Coissard. "In 2025 alone, we carried out almost 800,000 outpatient consultations and handled more than 100,000 trauma cases."
Israel's announcement came shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US President Donald Trump in Florida, where both dodged questions about their supposed "peace plan" for Gaza after more than two years of relentless bombing. The Israeli military has been accused of violating an existing ceasefire agreement hundreds of times since it took effect in October.
Al Jazeera reported Tuesday that "Israeli forces have carried out strikes across the Gaza Strip as they continue with their near-daily violations of the ceasefire agreement, with Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged enclave continuing apace and displaced Palestinians enduring the destruction of their few remaining possessions in flooding brought about by heavy winter rains."
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67 Children Have Been Killed in Gaza Since 'Ceasefire' Began, as Israel Committed Hundreds of Violations
“This is during an agreed ceasefire," a UNICEF spokesperson said. "The pattern is staggering."
Nov 21, 2025
Eight children have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza over the past two days. They are among 67 children who have been killed since last month's agreement for a "ceasefire" in Gaza was signed, according to a new report from the United Nations Children's Fund.
“Yesterday morning, a baby girl was reportedly killed in Khan Younis by an airstrike, while the day before, seven children were killed in Gaza City and the south,” said UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires on Friday.
The seven children were among dozens of Palestinians who were killed or injured by an Israeli quadcopter attack in Gaza City on Wednesday, according to Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
“At around 11:00 am, we heard gunfire from quadcopters,” said Zaher, an MSF nurse working at a mobile clinic in Gaza City. “Shortly after, we received two casualties. The first was a woman with a leg injury. A little later, a 9-year-old girl arrived with an injury on her face caused by gunfire from the quadcopters.”
Last month, Israel signed an agreement with Hamas that required both parties to cease hostilities with one another. But since the deal went into effect on October 11, Israel has carried out attacks in Gaza on 35 of the last 42 days.
The Gaza Media Office alleges that Israel has committed nearly 400 ceasefire violations in just over a month—which have included airstrikes, shellings, and direct shootings of civilians, as well as frequent incursions by Israel past the agreed-upon yellow withdrawal lines. At least 312 Palestinians have been killed and 760 injured.
“This is during an agreed ceasefire," Pires emphasized to reporters. "The pattern is staggering,”
Shortly after Pires' announcement, Israel launched a new ground invasion across the yellow line on Friday afternoon, which has reportedly left another displaced person dead near Khan Younis and thousands more people in North Gaza neighborhoods fleeing for their lives.
After two years of genocidal warfare, over 20,000 Palestinian children are confirmed to have been killed, while another 3,000 to 4,000 have lost either one or both of their limbs.
“As we have repeated many times, these are not statistics: Each was a child with a family, a dream, a life–suddenly cut short by continued violence," Pires said.
Gaza's health infrastructure lies in disrepair following two years of relentless bombing, which left nearly all of its hospitals and clinics either partially or fully destroyed.
As another stipulation of the ceasefire deal, Israel was required to lift its blockade on humanitarian aid entering the strip, which had left the people of Gaza on the brink of starvation and unable to perform basic medical care.
But in retaliation for what Israel alleged was a failure by Hamas to return the remains of some hostages abducted by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, Israel cut off the largest port of entry for humanitarian aid, the Rafah Crossing, which remains closed.
After several weeks in which aid was nearly all choked off, the number of trucks entering the strip has increased in recent days. But according to the World Food Program (WFP), hundreds of thousands of people still remain in dire need of food assistance, and the amount currently entering the strip is far too little.
Only about 30% of WFP's target food parcels have been allowed to be distributed, though it says that it has been able to move that number upward more quickly in recent days.
Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the WFP, said that while this is “a step in the right direction... a lot of these food supplies stay in border crossing points for long days and therefore you know the possibility of them going bad is high.”
Pires said that as winter approaches, hundreds of thousands of children are “sleeping in the open” and “trembling in fear while living in flooded, makeshift shelters."
“For hundreds of thousands of children living in tents over the rubble of their former homes, the new [winter] season is a threat multiplier," he said. "Children are shivering through the night with no heating, no insulation, and too few blankets.”
As Gaza's medical system lies in ruin, UNICEF says over 4,000 children urgently need to be evacuated from the strip. But even after the ceasefire deal, Palestinian journalist Eman Abu Zayed reports in Truthout that securing medical referrals from the Israeli government and traveling for treatment outside the strip is a "near-impossible task."
“Gaza's doctors tell us of children they know how to save but cannot,” said Pires. He said they were children "with severe burns, shrapnel wounds, spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and children with cancer who have lost months of treatment. Premature babies who need intensive care. Children who need surgeries that simply cannot be done inside Gaza today.”
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As Israeli Forces Seize Final Sumud Boat, Another Flotilla Sails Toward Gaza
"As journalists and medical professionals, we carry the responsibility to speak truth and preserve life," said an Italian surgeon.
Oct 03, 2025
As Israeli forces on Friday captured the last remaining vessel from the Global Sumud Flotilla that aimed to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and deliver humanitarian aid, another group of boats was headed for the Palestinian territory.
The 11 vessels, most of which started sailing last week, are "carrying over 150 healthcare workers, journalists, and activists," according to organizers, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and Thousand Madleens to Gaza.
"As journalists and medical professionals, we carry the responsibility to speak truth and preserve life," said Dr. Ricardo Corradini, a general surgeon from Italy, in a statement. "This mission is an appeal to our colleagues—and to the institutions that represent us globally—to break their silence, uphold their ethics, and stand on the right side of history."
FFC highlighted earlier this week that the ship "Conscience, bombed by Israel off the coast of Malta in May 2025, has returned to serve as a vehicle for medics and media determined to reach their colleagues in besieged Gaza."
Huwaida Arraf, an FFC steering committee member aboard Conscience, said that it "is the latest and largest boat in this historic flotilla—and its name represents not only steadfast resistance to Israel's illegal blockade, but a call to awaken the conscience of the world."
Since Israeli forces began intercepting Global Sumud Flotilla vessels late Wednesday, a fresh wave of global protests has occurred. People around the world have repeatedly taken to the streets over the past two years, as Israel has responded to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack by devastating infrastructure across Gaza, including healthcare facilities, wounding at least 169,165 Palestinians, and slaughtering at least 66,288.
Experts warn the true death toll in Gaza is likely much higher. Among the dead are many doctors and nurses—one count, from Healthcare Workers Watch, said at least 1,200 as of February. Israel's killing of Gaza's healthcare professionals continued this week with the death of Omar Hayek from Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
The Israeli attack that killed Hayek and wounded four others "took place on a street where our teams were waiting to take a bus to the MSF field hospital in Deir al-Balah. All staff were wearing MSF vests, clearly identifying them as medical humanitarian workers," the group said Thursday. "We express deep sorrow and outrage over the killing, which occurs less than two weeks after another MSF colleague, Hussein Alnajjar, was killed by the Israeli forces, in Deir al-Balah."
Also among the dead are over 200 journalists, with recent tallies ranging from 223 to 270. The Israeli government has prevented international reporters from entering Gaza—and has been widely accused of intentionally killing Palestinian journalists who have reported on the genocide while trying to survive it.
Global press freedom groups have frequently spoken out against Irsael's treatment of journalists, including this week, when Israeli forces took members of the media into custody while blocking the Global Sumud Flotilla from reaching Gaza.
"Arresting journalists and preventing them from doing their work is a serious violation of the right to inform and be informed," said Martin Roux, head of the Crisis Desk at Reporters Without Borders, or Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), in a Thursday statement.
"RSF condemns the illegal arrest of the news professionals who were on board these ships to cover a humanitarian operation of unprecedented scale," Roux continued. "The Israeli army, which has killed over 210 Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip, is continuing its media blockade of the Gaza Strip with these illegal arrests at sea, with the obvious goal of covering up the crimes it is committing against the Palestinian population. RSF urges Israel to respect the status of journalists, protect them, and guarantee their safety in accordance with international law."
Early Friday, the flotilla announced on Instagram that "Marinette, the last remaining boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla, was intercepted at 10:29 am local time, approximately 42.5 nautical miles from Gaza."
According to the flotilla, whose more than 450 members included politicians, actors, and activists from dozens of countries:
Over 38 hours, Israeli occupation naval forces illegally intercepted all 42 of our vessels—each carrying humanitarian aid, volunteers, and the determination to break Israel's illegal siege on Gaza.
Marinette sailed forward with the spirit of sumud—steadfastness—even after seeing the fate of 41 boats before her.
But this is not the end of our mission. Our determination to confront Israel’s atrocities and stand with the Palestinian people remains unshaken.
As people rise up in cities worldwide to demand an end to these horrors and to take a stand for humanity, we rise together with one voice.
We will not stop until the genocide ends. We will not stop until Palestine is free.
Until the interception, the flotilla faced repeated attacks widely believed to be from Israel, whose Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday continued to smear the peaceful humanitarian mission as the "Hamas-Sumud provocation" and a "sham."
"Already four Italian citizens have been deported. The rest are in the process of being deported. Israel is keen to end this procedure as quickly as possible," the ministry said on social media. "All are safe and in good health."
In a Friday statement about the Global Sumud Flotilla, Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights group in the United States, said that "the detention of these humanitarian volunteers, including American citizens, is deeply troubling and completely unacceptable."
"These are civilians engaged in delivering essential aid to people in desperate need in Gaza," he continued. "Denying them legal counsel, holding them incommunicado, and putting them at risk for simply performing humanitarian work is a flagrant violation of human rights and the principles the United States stands for. We urge the US government to act immediately to secure their safe release and make clear that targeting Americans performing humanitarian missions will not be tolerated."
Under President Donald Trump and his Democratic predecessor, the United States has provided Israel with diplomatic support on the global stage and billions of dollars in military aid. Joined at the White House on Monday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court—Trump unveiled a proposed peace plan for Gaza.
In a long post on his Truth Social platform Friday morning, Trump railed against Hamas and gave the group that has governed Gaza for the past two decades until Sunday at 6:00 pm Eastern Time to agree to his proposal. Trump wrote, "If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas."
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Doctors Without Borders Suspends Operations at Gaza City Clinics ‘Encircled by Israeli Forces’
"We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities,” said the humanitarian group's Gaza coordinator. "This is the last thing we wanted."
Sep 26, 2025
The humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders has been forced to suspend all its medical operations in Gaza City as its clinics have come under "escalating attacks from Israeli forces."
In a statement published Friday, the group—officially known as Médecins Sans Frontières—said "the relentless Israeli offensive in Gaza City, Palestine, has forced [MSF] to suspend vital medical activities in the area due to the rapidly deteriorating security situation.
"The situation includes continued airstrikes and advancing tanks less than one kilometer from our healthcare facilities," the group continued. "The escalating attacks from Israeli forces have created an unacceptable level of risk for our staff, forcing us to suspend lifesaving medical activities."
As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have pushed further into Gaza's largest city in recent days, hundreds of thousands of people have been forcibly displaced, and hundreds of thousands more have been trapped in the besieged city.
Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza has destroyed much of the strip's healthcare infrastructure and inflicted widespread disease and starvation.
Since it began in October 2023, MSF has provided over 1.1 million medical consultations, including in over 347,000 emergency cases, according to its website.
Just this week, even as Gaza City was pounded with airstrikes, the group says it carried out over 3,640 consultations and treated 1,655 people with malnutrition. They have also treated patients with severe trauma injuries and burns, as well as pregnant women and others who are unable to leave the city.
Earlier this month, Israel ordered everyone in Gaza City, over 1 million people, to evacuate or face the threat of military force. Hundreds of thousands have fled south. When the order was issued, MSF warned that it would be a "death sentence" for the many critically ill patients and newborn babies who'd be forced to abandon medical treatment.
"While large numbers of people have fled south due to evacuation orders, there are still hundreds of thousands in Gaza City, who are unable to leave and have no other option but to stay," MSF said. "Those who are able to leave face an impossible choice: either remain in Gaza City under intense military operations and the deterioration of law and order, or abandon what’s left of their houses, their belongings, and their memories, to move to areas where humanitarian conditions are rapidly collapsing."
The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 60 Palestinians have been killed and dozens more injured since dawn on Friday, bringing the official death toll since October 2023 to 65,549 people and the number of wounded to 167,518.
Meanwhile, at least seven hospitals have been forced to close due to heavy bombardment. Munir al-Bursh, the director general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,723 healthcare workers and damaged 38 hospitals since the war began in October 2023.
“We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities, as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces,” says Jacob Granger, the emergency coordinator for MSF in Gaza. “This is the last thing we wanted, as the needs in Gaza City are enormous, with the most vulnerable people—infants in neonatal care, those with severe injuries and life-threatening illnesses—unable to move and in grave danger.”
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Over 40% of Pregnant, Breastfeeding Women Who Visit Save the Children's Gaza Clinics Are Malnourished
"These are realities no mother should ever have to face," said one Save the Children official.
Aug 04, 2025
Save the Children on Monday released a report outlining the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza for pregnant and breastfeeding women.
The organization said that 43% of pregnant and breastfeeding women who showed up to its clinics in Gaza last month were malnourished, which represented a threefold increase since March, when the Israeli military imposed a total siege on the area.
"Since April, staff at Save the Children's two primary healthcare centers operating in Gaza have reported monthly increases in the number of pregnant and breastfeeding women found to be malnourished, with food, water and fuel almost entirely unavailable," said Save the Children. "Poor nutrition and malnutrition during pregnancy can cause anaemia, preeclampsia, hemorrhage, and death in mothers, lead to stillbirth, low birthweight, stunted growth, and developmental delays for children."
Instead of breastfeeding, said Save the Children, many mothers are resorting to giving their babies water mixed with ground chickpeas or tahini, which the organization noted were poor substitutes for breast milk or baby formula.
"Mothers are arriving at our clinics hungry, exhausted, and terrified their babies won't survive," said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children's regional director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. "Some are asking for formula so their baby can still be fed if they die. These are realities no mother should ever have to face."
Alhendawi went on to say that "extreme stress can disrupt breastfeeding" and that "displacement and hunger in Gaza are taking a devastating toll on all mothers" in the region. Save the Children then called upon the Israeli government to lift its blockade of aid supplies into Gaza and give international humanitarian organizations license to help millions of people currently facing acute starvation and other health threats.
Save the Children is not the first organization to point out the crisis facing pregnant and breastfeeding women in Gaza.
Doctors Without Borders last month similarly reported that "the number of people enrolled for malnutrition" at its Gaza City clinic "has quadrupled since May 18, while rates of severe malnutrition in children under 5 have tripled in the last two weeks alone." In all, Doctors Without Borders estimated that 25% of children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding women at the clinic were malnourished.
Amande Bazerolle, the Doctors Without Borders head of emergency response in Gaza, accused the Israeli government of deliberately inflicting starvation on the people living there.
"What we are seeing is unconscionable; an entire population being deliberately cut off from food and water, all while the Israeli forces commit daily massacres as people scramble for scraps of food at distribution sites," Bazerolle said. "Any shred of humanity in Gaza has been wiped out in the ongoing genocide."
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