Hospitals in ruins, care on hold: Gaza’s medical system collapses as MSF suspends operations

In Gaza City, the lifelines of care are collapsing. Over the past two weeks, a surge in airstrikes and military activity has pushed hospitals and health centres beyond breaking point. Entire facilities have been evacuated. Doctors and nurses have been forced to flee. And in a deeply troubling sign of the worsening situation, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has now suspended all its operations in Gaza City.

The consequences are devastating. Thousands of patients – children, the elderly, the wounded – are now stranded in a city where basic medical care has all but vanished.

Health care under siege

The situation on the ground is deteriorating by the hour.

• In the Samer area of Gaza City, a six-storey health centre was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike after it was evacuated. The facility had been a vital hub for blood transfusions and the treatment of chronic illnesses.
• Al-Quds Hospital, a large facility on the city’s southern edge, has been encircled and partially evacuated. Just 20 patients – two of them newborns in critical care – remain inside with a skeleton staff.
• Other hospitals, including Al-Rantissi and The Eye Hospital, have also ceased operations due to the intensifying conflict.

Each closure means lives lost. Mothers giving birth without trained staff. Children with trauma injuries are left without surgical care.

MSF withdraws from Gaza City

In a major development, MSF (Doctors Without Borders) confirmed yesterday that it has suspended all activities in Gaza City, citing an “unacceptable level of risk” for its staff and patients.

Their medical clinics have become surrounded by conflict. Safe access is no longer possible. And after months of holding the line, MSF made the painful decision to withdraw.

This withdrawal removes one of the last international medical actors from the city. It leaves an even greater burden on remaining NGOs and local providers – many of whom are operating with little to no resources.

A medical system in free fall

What’s unfolding in Gaza is a total collapse of basic health infrastructure under the weight of siege, bombardment, and chronic shortages.

• Hospitals lack fuel, oxygen, and sterilisation supplies.
• Surgeons are performing operations without anaesthesia.
• Ambulances are blocked from reaching the injured.
• Staff are working around the clock, with no guarantee they’ll survive the next day.

The trauma is not only physical. Medical workers face unbearable psychological strain – torn between saving lives and protecting their own families.

In the face of this collapse, IF Charity remains committed to the people of Gaza. We are focused on delivering urgent medical aid across Gaza – supporting clinics, mobile units, and frontline responders where we can still operate.

Your donations are helping us:

• Supply emergency medications and surgical kits to hospitals under strain
• Deliver fuel and oxygen for intensive care and operating theatres
• Support mobile medical teams reaching displaced families
• Fund emergency evacuations of vulnerable patients
• Provide medical supplies for chronic illness, maternity and trauma care

Every pound helps keep someone alive. Every box of supplies makes a field clinic bed usable again. Every minute counts.

As MSF leaves and hospitals fall silent, our work becomes even more urgent. We cannot afford to wait. The people of Gaza cannot afford silence. Donate now