Msf: 'We are forced to suspend activities in Gaza City'

Médecins Sans Frontières is forced to suspend medical activities in Gaza City due to the incessant Israeli offensive and the rapidly deteriorating security situation, including continuous air strikes and the advance of tanks less than a kilometre from Msf's health facilities. The escalating attacks by Israeli forces have created an unacceptable level of risk for the staff.

"We had no choice but to stop our activities as our clinics are surrounded by Israeli forces. This is the last thing we would have wanted, as the needs in Gaza City are enormous and the most vulnerable people - the infants in intensive care, the seriously injured and the terminally ill - cannot move and are in grave danger," says Jacob Granger, Msf's emergency coordinator in Gaza.

"In Gaza City," reads the note, "there are still hundreds of thousands of people who cannot leave the city and have no choice but to stay. Those who have the option of leaving are still faced with an untenable decision: to remain in Gaza City despite intense military operations and intensifying evacuation orders, or to abandon what remains of their homes, possessions and personal memories and move to areas where humanitarian conditions are rapidly collapsing.

Partially functioning hospitals,' the communiqué continues, 'throughout the Strip are at a standstill, due to severe shortages of staff, supplies and fuel, while patients face immense obstacles in reaching health facilities, often arriving too late and in a critical condition.

Last week alone, and despite the escalating offensive, Msf clinics in Gaza City carried out more than 3,640 consultations and treated 1,655 patients suffering from malnutrition. Among them were patients with serious wounds and burns, pregnant women and patients who needed continuous medical care and were unable to leave the city. This picture well describes the enormous scale of medical needs in Gaza City at the moment.