OMM Redaksiyası
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Monday that Israel was continuing what the organisation described as genocide in Gaza, and was “progressively asphyxiating” the territory. It urged governments to take immediate action.
In a statement, MSF said conditions for survival were being “systematically destroyed” through sustained violence, what it called a “deliberate” blockade of essential supplies, and the destruction of healthcare facilities and infrastructure.
The French medical charity said the establishment of Israel’s Yellow Line over the past year had made the physical confinement of people in Gaza increasingly definitive. Although initially presented as temporary, the line is now reinforced by military positions, earth berms and ongoing demolitions, MSF said, adding that it had continued to move west and “squeeze people into a smaller and smaller area.”
MSF said people risk being shot by Israeli forces if they approach the area, while its teams continue to treat people wounded by gunfire nearby. Amande Bazerolle, the organisation’s head of emergency response in Gaza, said the Yellow Line had become “a mechanism of encirclement and ethnic cleansing,” cutting communities off from essential infrastructure, healthcare and water.
MSF reports trauma and disease cases
Violence is not confined to areas around the Yellow Line, the organisation said, reporting that its teams treated more than 1,200 cases of violent trauma across Gaza in June and July alone. MSF said its teams had treated more than 200,000 trauma cases over the past three years, while Israel’s military offensive had killed more than 74,000 people.
Overcrowding and limited access to clean water, sanitation, shelter and healthcare are contributing to the spread of disease, MSF said. Its teams treated more than 11,000 cases of skin disease and 1,500 cases of chickenpox in June and July.
Restrictions affect hospitals and water systems
MSF also described a sharp deterioration in access to healthcare over the past three years, saying hospitals were running out of basic supplies and patients could not obtain essential medicines and treatment. Restrictions on supplies including engine oil and spare parts were disrupting the infrastructure needed to operate hospitals, ambulances and water systems, the statement said. Generators were already breaking down and water-trucking operations had been reduced.
The organisation said the crisis extended beyond Gaza, with violent attacks by Israeli settlers, military operations, raids on homes, displacement and home demolitions escalating across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Bazerolle said it would take generations to recover from the harm caused over the past three years and preceding decades, while the consequences of what she called Israel’s ongoing genocide continued to be felt. She said destruction, displacement and deprivation were being carried out “with impunity” and becoming “normalised.”
“Governments must act now to ensure Israel stops the destruction and killing, prevents ethnic cleansing, and stops denying Palestinians the means of survival,” Bazerolle said.
