Latest news with #MSF-supported
Middle East Eye
6 days ago
- Health
- Middle East Eye
Current aid distribution model in Gaza is 'engineering chaos and massacres', MSF says
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders said in a statement on Friday that more than 600 aid seekers were treated for injuries in northern Gaza after Israeli soldiers opened fire on them. Caroline Willemen, MSF project coordinator in Gaza, said: "On 30 July, as people approached trucks distributing aid near Zikim, in north Gaza, Israeli forces opened fire on them. "People were wounded in the gunfire and in the crush as crowds panicked and ran. Medical staff at the MSF-supported Sheikh Radwan clinic in north Gaza treated 77 injured patients and received eight people dead on arrival. "Across north Gaza, nearly 600 people were treated for similar injuries following violence and chaos near Zikim that night, according to the Ministry of Health, as food trucks were passing." Willemen said such deadly incidents have become "a daily reality in Gaza for too long now" and the current methods of distribution are "engineering chaos and massacres" while Palestinians risk their lives in a desperate search for food.
Days of Palestine
19-06-2025
- Health
- Days of Palestine
Your silence is not neutrality': MSF accuses European governments of enabling atrocities in Gaza
DaysofPal – Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) has issued a scathing condemnation of European governments over their role in the devastation unfolding in the Gaza Strip. In a dual communication, a formal press release and an open letter to European leaders, the medical humanitarian organization accuses the European Union and its member states of hypocrisy, moral failure, and direct complicity in Israel's war on Gaza. More than eight months into Israel's military campaign, MSF warns that Europe's continued support has deadly consequences for civilians and that the continent's moral standing is being eroded by its failure to uphold basic principles of international humanitarian law. 'You have watched Israel obliterate a health system you helped build,' the open letter states. 'You have witnessed your own citizens and staff being killed, detained, and tortured. You have seen hospitals bombed, ambulances destroyed, and entire families annihilated. And yet you continue to back this war politically, financially, and militarily.' A war waged with European support MSF emphasizes that more than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities, the majority of them women and children. The group describes a landscape of catastrophic destruction: hospitals systematically targeted, medical staff killed, patients operated on without anesthesia, and children undergoing amputations without painkillers. In its press release, MSF accuses Europe of trying to separate its humanitarian efforts from its political and military alliance with Israel, a contradiction MSF calls untenable. 'How can you send aid with one hand and supply the weapons that destroy it with the other?' the statement reads. 'How can you express concern for civilian lives while criminalizing and defunding the very organizations trying to save them?' MSF facilities attacked, staff killed and detained MSF directly accuses Israel of repeatedly targeting its facilities and medical teams. In recent months, MSF-supported hospitals have been shelled, convoys fired upon, and health workers detained. In at least one case, an MSF surgeon was arrested and reportedly subjected to abuse while in Israeli custody. Despite having shared the GPS coordinates of its premises with Israeli authorities, the group says its clinics and convoys have been bombed, patients and staff have been killed, and entire medical operations shut down due to the attacks. 'Health care in Gaza has been brought to its knees,' the group said. MSF's sharpest criticism is aimed at European governments' dual role as self-proclaimed defenders of human rights and as supporters of Israel's military campaign. The open letter and statement describe how EU states have continued to supply arms, intelligence, and diplomatic protection to Israel, even as the siege has caused famine, mass displacement, and the collapse of the health system. According to MSF, Europe has criminalized Palestinian solidarity and slashed funding to important humanitarian partners under the pretense of counterterrorism and neutrality. 'You cannot continue to support this war and claim to stand for humanitarianism, international law, and human rights,' the open letter reads. 'Your words of concern are meaningless when your actions enable the killing of civilians and the destruction of a health system.' A Call for Immediate Action MSF is urging European leaders to take concrete and immediate action to end their complicity in the ongoing atrocities in Gaza. This includes suspending all political and military support to Israel, demanding a permanent ceasefire, and ensuring the immediate and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to the population under siege. The organization also calls on European governments to uphold international legal accountability by pursuing justice for attacks on civilians and aid workers, including those targeting MSF staff and facilities. 'Your silence is not neutrality,' the letter states bluntly. 'It is a green light for the continuation of mass atrocities.' MSF argues that European governments cannot maintain credibility as defenders of the rules-based international order while facilitating the destruction of Gaza and punishing those who speak out against it. 'You say you are committed to humanitarianism. But your inaction and your double standards are contributing to the erosion of that very system.' The letter ends on a sobering note, warning that the world is watching not just the destruction in Gaza but also Europe's complicity in it. The longer European governments remain passive or enabling, MSF says, the greater the cost, not just in Palestinian lives, but in the collapse of a global moral and legal framework. 'We ask you to act,' the letter concludes, 'not only because of what is happening in Gaza today, but because of what it means for all of us tomorrow.' Shortlink for this post:
Barnama
16-05-2025
- Health
- Barnama
Israeli Strike Puts Gaza's Last Cancer Hospital Out of Service
LONDON, May 16 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- The Gaza European Hospital, the last facility providing cancer treatment in the Gaza Strip, is now out of service after an Israeli strike, international medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported. In a statement, MSF said the hospital, located in Khan Younis, ceased operations after being struck by Israeli forces on 13 May. 'This was one of the last remaining lifelines in Gaza's shattered healthcare system,' MSF wrote on social media platform X, noting that the MSF-supported Nasser Hospital is now the only functioning public hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mining town cut off by M23 rebels ‘has two weeks of supplies left'
A key mining hub in the Democratic Republic of Congo only has enough essential medicines to last for two weeks after being seized by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. Sources in Walikale, which was captured by the M23 on March 19, say the town is no longer safely accessible by road or air because of ongoing clashes between the army and rebels involving gunfire, drone strikes and explosions. As a result, reserves of supplies and critical drugs including antibiotics, painkillers, and HIV drugs needed to treat hundreds of people seeking refuge in the town, are about to run out, they told The Telegraph. 'The last delivery we received of essential medicines and supplies was January 17,' said Marco Doneda, head of Medicines Sans Frontiers' programmes in North Kivu. 'If things do not change, we estimate that in two weeks we will run out of critical medications, including antibiotics.' An MSF-supported hospital in the centre of the town is currently sheltering more than 700 civilians, who have fled their homes amid the near-constant gunfire and explosions that have rattled the area since the rebels launched their assault on the town. 'This is creating a situation that, from a point of view of hygiene, is not ideal at all, especially for a medical facility. It's impossible to get supplies, because there is no viable road to reach Walikale,' Mr Doneda said. 'We are also at risk because our hospital is not fortified or protected, it's in the middle of town and is totally exposed. On the first day of fighting, we came out of the facility to find gunfire had damaged our cars, and bullets had come through the gates,' he added. Walikale sits atop large deposits of gold and tin, which is used as a protective coating for other metals and in industries including food packing and electronics. Walikale is the Western-most town to fall to the M23 since they launched an offensive on the eastern DRC in January. The group has also captured the two major cities in the region, Goma and Bukavu. More than 7,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands more displaced in the DRC since January in the latest escalation in conflict between the armed forces and the M23, which was formed in 2012 and has roots in the 1998 Rwandan genocide. The group promised to withdraw from Walikale last week as a gesture of peace, but heavy fighting has continued in the area. 'These past days, the situation continues to deteriorate. The violence has severely impacted access to healthcare, as 80 per cent of the population has fled the city hearing artillery fire and fearing hostilities,' a spokesperson for the charity said. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
03-04-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Mining town cut off by M23 rebels ‘has two weeks of supplies left'
A key mining hub in the Democratic Republic of Congo only has enough essential medicines to last for two weeks after being seized by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. Sources in Walikale, which was captured by the M23 on March 19, say the town is no longer safely accessible by road or air because of ongoing clashes between the army and rebels involving gunfire, drone strikes and explosions. As a result, reserves of supplies and critical drugs including antibiotics, painkillers, and HIV drugs needed to treat hundreds of people seeking refuge in the town, are about to run out, they told The Telegraph. 'The last delivery we received of essential medicines and supplies was January 17,' said Marco Doneda, head of Medicines Sans Frontiers' programmes in North Kivu. 'If things do not change, we estimate that in two weeks we will run out of critical medications, including antibiotics.' An MSF-supported hospital in the centre of the town is currently sheltering more than 700 civilians, who have fled their homes amid the near-constant gunfire and explosions that have rattled the area since the rebels launched their assault on the town. 'This is creating a situation that, from a point of view of hygiene, is not ideal at all, especially for a medical facility. It's impossible to get supplies, because there is no viable road to reach Walikale,' Mr Doneda said. 'We are also at risk because our hospital is not fortified or protected, it's in the middle of town and is totally exposed. On the first day of fighting, we came out of the facility to find gunfire had damaged our cars, and bullets had come through the gates,' he added. Walikale sits atop large deposits of gold and tin, which is used as a protective coating for other metals and in industries including food packing and electronics. Walikale is the Western-most town to fall to the M23 since they launched an offensive on the eastern DRC in January. The group has also captured the two major cities in the region, Goma and Bukavu. More than 7,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands more displaced in the DRC since January in the latest escalation in conflict between the armed forces and the M23, which was formed in 2012 and has roots in the 1998 Rwandan genocide. The group promised to withdraw from Walikale last week as a gesture of peace, but heavy fighting has continued in the area. 'These past days, the situation continues to deteriorate. The violence has severely impacted access to healthcare, as 80 per cent of the population has fled the city hearing artillery fire and fearing hostilities,' a spokesperson for the charity said.
