Randa Masoud: 'The situation in Gaza has not improved'
The medical coordinator of Médecins Sans Frontières describes a very serious crisis. Tramballi: 'It is a war of revenge. The government's intent is the expulsion of the Palestinians'
- "It is embarrassing and painful to have to admit that, seven months after the so-called ceasefire, the situation has not improved at all. The sanitary conditions remain catastrophic'. For a few minutes, Randa's voice croaks, comes in hiccups, but her image remains clear. As if she were only a few kilometres away, and not in a clinic in the Gaza Strip, in the city of Deir el-Balah. Randa Masoud has been the medical coordinator of Médecins Sans Frontières since 2024, but has been working in emergency health planning in the Strip for 14 years. Her speech at the Trento Festival of Economics, in the panel "Gaza and the West Bank not to be forgotten", is a description of a crisis that is still very serious: the ceasefire wanted by US President Trump has not produced concrete improvements. "Before the ceasefire there were more than 72,000 dead and more than 172,000 injured. We thought that at least the killings and injuries would end, but Palestinians continue to be hit every day'.
'On 11 May,' the worker continues, 'a bombing hit a shelter for displaced people full of women and children, 400 metres from a Médecins Sans Frontières facility. A few days later, on 17 May, another attack hit a community kitchen distributing food to displaced people, causing three deaths and numerous injuries'.
According to data from the Gaza Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation, quoted by Randa, 50% of essential medical supplies are exhausted, including basic medicines and chemotherapy. Only 53% of hospitals and 58% of primary care centres are still partially operational.
The services, all services, in Gaza are in a catastrophic situation. The committee of Palestinian technicians chosen mainly by the Board of peace, which was supposed to provide emergency management, has never entered the Strip. "Access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene products remains extremely limited. Rubbish accumulates everywhere. I have been working in Gaza for over 14 years, but I have never seen rodents biting the faces of children and infants".
There is also another major emergency that is little talked about: mental trauma, the wounds of the soul. "The WHO and the Health Cluster," continues Randa Masoud, "have verified that more than one million people in Gaza need psychological and psychosocial support. A 2025 study of adolescents in the Strip found that about 80 per cent have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder'.
