HI physiotherapist Maria Marelli makes regular visit in Rafah to support our team. She tells us her experience.

In response to the deadly strike on Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza in which more than 470 people have been reportedly killed, Melanie Ward, Chief Executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians said:

"The horrifying scenes from Al Ahli demonstrate that healthcare will not be safe until there is a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza. The international community must urgently demand that healthcare be protected, so that that medical workers be able to care for people without fear of coming under attack.

In response to reports that 20 trucks carrying aid supplies may be allowed into Gaza soon, Melanie Ward, Chief Executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians said:

“Two million people are experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. The announcement that 20 trucks of aid – food, water, and medical supplies – will be allowed to enter southern Gaza does not even scratch the surface of their needs.

Hospitals in Gaza are close to total collapse if fuel does not reach them in the next 48 hours, Medical Aid for Palestinians warned today. 

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and International Rescue Committee (IRC) have previously shared details of the near-fatal airstrike on 18 January 2024 by the Israeli military on a residential compound housing our Emergency Medical Team (EMT) and members of MAP’s local team and their family members. The airstrike was in Al Mawasi – the alleged ‘safe zone’ – in Gaza.

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) calls for the urgent protection of hundreds of healthcare workers, patients, and displaced civilians trapped inside the Shifa Hospital in Gaza, following the Israeli military’s invasion and five-day siege.

After a two-week-long invasion and siege, the Israeli military withdrew from Gaza’s largest hospital, Shifa Hospital, on 1 April, leaving it in ruins and completely out of service. The hospital’s main surgery building, its intensive care unit, and emergency, general surgery, and orthopaedic departments have all been destroyed.

As Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza approaches six months, an Emergency Medical Team (EMT) with Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) report horrific scenes of patients dying from infections with evidence of serious malnutrition at the European Gaza Hospital (EGH) where they have been recently been treating patients over two weeks.

(MAP)’s team in Gaza is working tirelessly, risking their lives to deliver essential aid to their communities. We are one of the only international organisations working in northern Gaza, where conditions are the worst for Palestinians.

In the fifth of our ‘Voices from Gaza’ blog series, Tarneem Hammad describes what life is like as an aid worker responding to the humanitarian needs on the ground, amid more than 200 days of Israel’s indiscriminate military bombardment on Gaza.