MSF says rising fatalities caused by devastated health system

MSF revealed that the entire healthcare system of the Gaza Strip “has been decimated” and that people were suffering from severe malnutrition, causing their physical and mental health to deteriorate.

“On 13 October 2023, more than one million Palestinian men, women and children were forcibly displaced into Rafah, an area the Israeli forces claimed would be safe,” the report said adding,” However, not only are military operations ongoing in Rafah, but the basic conditions for the survival of the civilian population are not in place.”

The MSF report referred to the serious physical and mental risks the people in Rafah are exposed to, as witnessed by the teams within the primary healthcare centers and in the post-partum ward where the crew provide medical care in Rafah.

Sounding the alarm over acute malnutrition, MSF said: “The Israeli authorities’ restrictions on commercial and humanitarian supplies entering Gaza have pushed the population to the edge of starvation. In a country where acute malnutrition was previously unseen, MSF has recorded an alarming upward trend in the number of children, pregnant women and new mothers with acute malnutrition.”

It added that the MSF primary healthcare centers in Rafah give an insight into just a fraction of a much wider crisis, as conditions in north Gaza – to which MSF teams have no access – are reportedly much more dire.

“The population has been exposed to more than six months of grueling conflict, with a death toll exceeding any other war in the twenty-first century”, continued the report and added,” Even those who have fled to allegedly safe areas are still unsafe. While MSF mental health teams continue to support this traumatized population and maintain a hope that people will eventually recover from their experiences, it is impossible to build resilience and coping mechanisms until a basic sense of safety is restored.”

Highlighting the looming threat of disease outbreaks, MSF said: “The threat of disease outbreaks looms over Rafah. People’s living conditions are horrific, particularly with the lack of clean drinking water and the accumulation of rubbish and untreated sewage in the streets – a direct result of the blockade imposed by Israeli authorities on fuel entering Gaza. Initial predictions anticipate that health-related excess mortality rates caused by this conflict will be in the tens of thousands; these are Gaza’s “silent killings””.

It warned that “Gaza’s health system stands shattered; its road to recovery will be long and uncertain – spanning years, if not decades” and stressed the need for “an immediate, sustained and durable ceasefire.”