Gaza’s health care system is facing a near-total collapse amid escalating Israeli military operations, ongoing siege conditions and continued restrictions on humanitarian aid, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has warned.
In a statement Monday, MSF condemned what it described as the "deliberate asphyxiation" of Gaza’s health infrastructure and called for an immediate halt to attacks on medical facilities and civilians.
At least 20 medical facilities have been damaged or forced to suspend services in the past week, largely due to intensified airstrikes, advancing ground troops and widespread evacuation orders.
MSF added that Israel is "weaponizing aid," allowing only a fraction of needed supplies to enter Gaza – approximately 100 trucks daily compared to 500 before the war began in October 2023.
"This plan is a way to instrumentalize aid, making it a tool to further Israeli forces’ military objectives," said Pascale Coissard, MSF emergency coordinator in Khan Younis.
On May 19, MSF teams reported nearly one airstrike per minute over 30 minutes in Khan Younis, with one strike hitting the Nasser hospital compound just 100 meters from intensive care units supported by MSF.
It marked the third time the facility had been struck in two months. The damage forced the closure of several critical services, including outpatient departments and mental health care for burn victims, many of whom are children.
The same strike severely damaged the Health Ministry pharmacy store within the compound, placing further strain on dwindling medical supplies.
Evacuation orders have further compounded the crisis. On May 19, Israeli forces instructed residents of eastern Khan Younis to flee to al-Mawasi, displacing over 138,000 people between May 15 and 20, according to the Site Management Cluster.
As a result, MSF scaled back operations, maintaining only emergency services in select clinics.
Elsewhere, facilities supported by MSF, including Sheikh Radwan clinic in Gaza City and al-Hakker clinic in Deir al-Balah, have been forced to shut down.
The closure of Sheikh Radwan alone deprived a densely populated area of 250,000 residents of the last functioning public clinic, which had been conducting 3,000 consultations daily.
With all public hospitals in North Gaza now reportedly out of service and overall bed capacity across the Strip reduced to about 1,000 – down from 3,500 pre-war – MSF said its field hospital in Deir al-Balah has exceeded 150% capacity.
MSF called on Israel and its allies to allow unrestricted humanitarian access and to stop attacks on healthcare immediately. "Every day that is lost," the group said, “reinforces their complicity in the annihilation of the people of Gaza."
