Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment and siege is making it impossible to sustain human life in Gaza, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) has warned today.

On Thursday 30 November, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that it was “imperative” that Israel ensure “that the massive loss of civilian life and displacement of the scale that we saw in northern Gaza not be repeated in the south”.

The agreement between Israel and Hamas for a four-day truce in Gaza will bring some limited respite for Palestinians who have endured 46 days of devastating bombardment, but is far below what is needed to end Gaza's humanitarian calamity. Only a permanent ceasefire can bring an end to Gaza's suffering, and allow people to rebuild their lives and communities.

Urgent action to uphold the protection of healthcare is needed to prevent the total collapse of Gaza’s health system.

The reported number of healthcare workers killed in ten weeks of Israel’s assault on Gaza has exceeded the total number killed in all countries in conflict globally in any single year since 2016, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said today.

Medical experts comprising the first Emergency Medical Team (EMT) deployed by the Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to Gaza have reported harrowing injuries and evidence of serious malnutrition at the hospital where they are working to help treat an unprecedented influx of casualties from Israel’s military bombardment.

As a result of increasing Israeli military activity around the Al Aqsa Hospital, the only functioning hospital in Gaza’s Middle Area, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC)’s Emergency Medical Team (EMT) has been forced to withdraw and cease activities.

Dear friend,

It has become hard to find the right words to express the horrors of the last few months. Like you, I have watched the images coming out of Gaza each day with dread. More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault, most of them women and children. Families are being displaced, again and again, chased ever-southwards by the bombs. Everyone is hungry. Some are starving.

A YouGov poll commissioned by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) highlights an overwhelming level of British public support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Gaza is devastated.

100 days of Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment and siege have reduced entire neighbourhoods to rubble.

One in every 100 people have been killed, most of them women and children.

The dead are buried in mass graves, or remain trapped beneath the rubble.

The health system is being systematically dismantled, and our volunteer doctors who have entered Gaza report apocalyptic conditions in those hospitals that are still functioning.

Medical Aid for Palestinians has supported Gaza Medic Voices' vigil for healthcare workers in Gaza, encouraged healthcare workers to attend the event taking place outside Downing Street on Friday 10 November 2023 at 6pm. 

The vigil is being organised to call on Rishi Sunak to push for an urgent ceasefire and was held in honour of the healthcare workers, medics and hospital staff killed by Israel's bombardment of Gaza. 

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) is raising the alarm about the imminent threat of full-scale military assaults against hospitals in northern Gaza, and demanding that the international community take urgent action to protect them from attack.

Palestinian health services have come under repeated attack during Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza since 7 October. According to the World Health Organization, 36 health facilities including 22 hospitals have been damaged.