Palestine

Living in constant fear of eviction, seeing their homes demolished and having their movements restricted are some of the challenges faced by Palestinians in and around Masafer Yatta, in the southern West Bank of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In its new report The unbearable life: the health impacts of the Israeli measures to forcibly evict the residents of Masafer Yatta, the international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) sheds light on the extraordinary pressure applied by Israeli authorities to push local communities to leave the area and the impact of this on people’s physical and mental health.

From 10 to 21 May 2021, Israeli airstrikes and shelling on the Gaza Strip killed 256 people, including 66 children. Around 2,000 Palestinians were injured during the bombing, including over 600 children, some of whom sustained injuries resulting in long-term disabilities such as loss of limbs or eyesight. One year on, two patients treated by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and one MSF staff member share their testimonies to demonstrate the lifelong impacts of last year’s hostilities.

Each year MSF clinics in Gaza treat 5,000 new burn victims, the vast majority of whom are children injured in domestic accidents. Unsafe housing conditions are one the main causes of these incidents. Almost 70 percent of Gaza’s population are refugees.

Between 10 and 21 May, Israeli airstrikes and shelling killed more than 250 people and left close to 2,000 injured in the coastal enclave of the Gaza Strip. In the space of just 11 days, many Gazans saw their homes and their livelihoods destroyed and suffered long-lasting physical and psychological injuries.

The fighting between the Israeli military and Palestinian armed groups, principally Hamas, broke out once again after weeks of tensions in occupied East Jerusalem, which has been illegally annexed by Israel.

On Monday 10 May, we started supporting the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in Jerusalem to assess and stabilize hundreds of Palestinians injured by the Israeli police at a PRCS trauma stabilization point in the city.

Whether in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, the number of Covid-19 positive cases explodes in Palestine. Since August, MSF has been supporting local health authorities in the fight against the virus.

The medical needs for patients injured are still huge: many require complex procedures and the treatment generally takes months, possibly years.

Between March 2018 and December 2019, 8,800 people were injured with live ammunitions by the Israeli army while attending the “Great March of Return”, along the fence separating Gaza from Israel. The threat of COVID-19 is making their excruciating recovery process even harder and longer.

A full lockdown has been in place in the West Bank for more than three weeks, with over 300 people confirmed to have COVID-19 in Palestine. The harshness of these security measures, intended to prevent the virus from spreading further, is impacting the lives of more than 3.2 million people living in the West Bank.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza killed 11 civilians in November 2019. MSF’s teams working in Dar al Salam hospital treated an 11-year old girl who lost her entire family and was badly injured during the raids.

As well as the physical aspect of the care we are providing, our psychosocial teams work with our patients and their families to aid in their recovery.

The occupation leads to severe mental health issues among the Palestinian population.

MSF is dealing with immense challenges while treating many people who have developed bone infections after having been shot by the Israeli army during protests in Gaza, Palestine over the last year.

On 14 May 2018, the Israeli army shot more than 1,300 Palestinians, killing 60 of them, during the weekly protests by the fence between Gaza and Israel. A year later, many of those injured are still struggling with the devastating consequences of their wounds.

One year ago people in Gaza began holding demonstrations and being shot by the Israeli forces near the fence between the two territories. Thousands of people have been left to cope with devastating wounds.

Many patients have lost important pieces of bone in their legs, sprayed by bullets fired by the Israeli army. The medical resources available in Gaza are limited and make this challenge extremely complicated.

The huge numbers of patients with complex and serious gunshot wounds are overwhelming the healthcare system in Gaza, leaving thousands in danger of infection and disability.

During the last six months, over 5,000 Gazans have been injured by Israeli bullets.These are some of the young patients we meet in our post - operative clinics.