The relentless Israeli offensive in Gaza City, Palestine, has forced Médecins Sans Frontières (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 kilometre from our healthcare facilities. The escalating attacks from Israeli forces have created an unacceptable level of risk for our staff, forcing us to suspend lifesaving medical activities. 

“We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities, as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces,” says Jacob Granger, MSF Emergency Coordinator in Gaza. “This is the last thing we wanted, as the needs in Gaza City are enormous, with the most vulnerable people - infants in neo-natal care, those with severe injuries and life-threatening illnesses - unable to move and in grave danger.” 

While large numbers of people have fled south due to evacuation orders, there are still hundreds of thousands of pople in Gaza City, who are unable to leave and have no other option but to stay. 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.