Gaza Strip Conflict

Attacks on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army during three weeks in December 2008 and January 2009 made medical action extremely difficult. The vulnerability of civilians sparked humanitarian outrage and widespread criticism.

Nine out of every 10 new patients have injuries related to bomb explosions?primarily fractures and wounds.

More than two weeks after the ceasefires, MSF medical teams in the Gaza Strip have expanded surgical, post-operative, and psychological care, particularly for people wounded during the three-week Israeli military operation last month.

Bilal, 14, is being helped by his father to drink a can of cola. He is feeling better, about an hour after he was operated on by a surgical team in an MSF field hospital in Gaza City.

While many wounded people still require medical care, particularly surgical procedures or post-operative care, the population in the Gaza Strip is also in need of social and psychological assistance.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been equipped for more than three years with inflatable tents enabling rapidly and adaptable set-ups of operating suites, intensive care units, and hospital beds. Injured patients in Gaza City who require specialized or follow-up surgical procedures are admitted to such a temporary hospital. Dr. Mego Terzian, MSF deputy coordinator for emergency programs explains more.

MSF medical teams began carrying out specialized surgical procedures today in inflatable structures put up by MSF late last week in Gaza City. The two hospital tents include operating theaters and a 12-bed, post-surgery recovery and post-operative care unit.

Medical activities carried out by MSF inside the Gaza Strip have increased over the last 48 hours, in the wake of the Israeli and Hamas ceasefires.

An MSF surgical team and other personnel entered the Gaza Strip today to provide essential surgical services to people seriously wounded during the last three weeks of intense fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas.

On Friday, January 16, MSF held press conferences in Jerusalem and Paris to decry the dire humanitarian situation currently affecting civilians trapped in Gaza, and demanding that all parties to the conflict respect medical teams attempting to reach these people. Following are excerpts from the press conferences.

"The army is now about two kilometers away in Tal El-Hawa, where there are clashes and a massive presence of tanks. Many families are trapped there and a lot of people are wounded. Again and again there is this massive problem of access."

Jerusalem/Gaza/Paris, January 14, 2009 — Despite statements by Israeli authorities, the worsening security situation in the Gaza Strip is severely limiting international humanitarian assistance in support of Palestinian emergency medical services, which are trying to cope with thousands of wounded patients. MSF calls on the parties to the conflict to allow medical personnel to enter and operate safely in the Gaza Strip to reach trapped civilians.

The MSF medical team in Gaza is carrying out its work, although team members wish they could provide more aid. Still, they are treating wounded patients who cannot reach a hospital and supplying health workers with medical equipment and medications.

MSF faces major problems in obtaining access to the wounded. The security conditions still prevent medical teams and humanitarian aid workers from providing aid to a population that has nowhere to flee and finds itself trapped.

Jessica Pourraz, MSF field coordinator in Gaza, observes that the situation in the field remains unchanged. Given the security conditions, medical teams and humanitarian aid workers are still unable to deliver aid to a population that has nowhere to flee.

New York, January 7, 2009 — The military offensive in the Gaza Strip is affecting civilians indiscriminately, while medical teams continue to face serious obstacles to providing assistance. The international community must not be content with a limited truce, which is largely inadequate for providing lifesaving assistance.

More than one week after air strikes began on the Gaza Strip, and following the beginning of a land incursion by Israeli forces, surgical services in Gaza are overwhelmed and are in need of surgeons specialized in vascular surgery in order to deal with the increasing number of wounded people.

Three expatriate staff members from MSF were able to join local MSF teams in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, December 31, 2008. They describe the tension and difficulties working in Gaza, with air strikes and bombings making it very difficult for patients and healthcare personnel to move around.

The violent conflict in the Gaza Strip has been extremely intense for the last four days, and hospitals have been struggling to meet the urgent needs of large numbers of wounded people. A Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) doctor* in Gaza spoke on December 30 about the situation there.

Four days after air attacks against the Gaza Strip began hospitals are already overwhelmed by an influx of wounded patients. Two MSF teams have begun treating them and an initial MSF truckload of medical supplies and drugs entered the Gaza Strip today.

Since Saturday, December 27, aerial attacks on the Gaza Strip are estimated to have killed 300 people and wounded over one thousand more, including civilians. In both Kemal Edwan and Shifa Hospitals, medical personnel are overloaded by the influx of wounded and a lack space to deal with all the patients.