The ceasefire is not the end of the extreme suffering in Gaza | Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières is calling on governments around the world to drastically and urgently increase medical evacuations for thousands of patients who are unable to access the care they need in Gaza. These evacuations must be accompanied by a sustained effort to maintain the fragile ceasefire—which has been violated multiple times—and ensure a massive, unrestricted influx of humanitarian aid into the Strip. With medical evacuations from Gaza set to resume on October 22 following a suspension since September 29, MSF is urging governments around the world to save lives by urgently and drastically increasing this vital lifeline. Israeli authorities must allow patients to leave the Strip to access the treatment they need and ensure their right of return to Gaza. “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring genocide. The health system lies in ruins,” says Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim, International President of MSF and an emergency doctor who has worked in Gaza. “Israeli forces attacked hospitals, reducing them to rubble; killed, detained, and forcibly displaced medical staff; and systematically blocked supplies from entering the Strip.” As of October 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that over 15,600 people—one in four of whom are children—are awaiting lifesaving medical evacuation from Gaza. … “These patients cannot wait for the health care system to be rebuilt: They need urgent care today,” says Dr. Abdelmoneim. “Between July 2024 and August 2025, at least 740 patients, including 137 children, died while waiting for medical evacuation. These were preventable deaths caused not only by destroyed hospitals but by political inaction.” … While more humanitarian assistance is starting to arrive, MSF is calling for it to be rapidly scaled up to meet the staggering needs of 2 million people, many of whom are returning to the ruins of their former homes with winter fast approaching. The most pressing needs include medical supplies, fuel, clean water, food, and shelter. As of October 2025, the WHO has confirmed that only 14 out of Gaza's 36 hospitals were even partly functioning. None are fully operational following systematic and direct Israeli attacks, including ground offensives, tank shells, and airstrikes. According to the Ministry of Health, 1,722 health workers have been killed. Just a week before the ceasefire, two MSF colleagues—an occupational therapist and a physiotherapist—were killed by an Israeli airstrike while on their way to work. In total, 15 MSF colleagues were killed in the past two years. An MSF orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Mohammed Obeid, has been detained in harsh conditions since October 2024. We are urgently appealing for his release. The loss of health professionals is devastating for patients in Gaza. …