Palestine: MSF urges Israel to restore the ceasefire immediately amid renewed attacks in Gaza
In the early hours of 18 March, Israeli forces launched strikes right across the Gaza Strip, Palestine, shattering the ceasefire that has been in place since mid-January 2025. In Gaza, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams have so far received hundreds of wounded patients, and many more who arrived at facilities dead on arrival.
MSF is urging Israel not to restart hostilities and to immediately restore the ceasefire and lift a two-week-long blockade on supplies. Responding to the latest developments, Claire Magone, General Director of MSF France, issued the following comments:
“We are horrified by the attacks launched by Israel today on the people of Gaza, shattering the nearly two-month-old ceasefire. Out of the hundreds killed, according to the Ministry of Health, MSF received 75 dead on arrival and scores of wounded in just three of the facilities we support.
Our staff were completely taken by surprise and found themselves once again having to deal with influxes of mass casualties, many of whom were children.
In line with the tactics that the Israeli authorities have applied since October 2023, they have once again chosen to collectively punish the people of Gaza – with the explicit approval of their closest ally, the United States – striking with an intensity not seen since the early stages of the war. For over 15 months, before the ceasefire, people in Gaza were indiscriminately killed, mutilated, wounded, and displaced.
Israeli forces undertaking these latest ruthless attacks and evacuation orders make us fear that a new phase of military operations in Gaza is about to begin. Palestinians in Gaza will simply not be able to withstand this, neither physically nor mentally. Their hopes of recovering at least part of their previous lives are being shattered.
Since the ceasefire came into effect on 19 January, people have been struggling to restore the basics of their day-to-day lives after a drawn-out, devastating military campaign, which has annihilated the very fabric of society in Gaza. Israel has once again cut access to humanitarian aid and basic goods.
MSF calls for the ceasefire to be immediately restored and for Israel not to restart its campaign of destruction and the nightmarish, massive bombing of the people of Gaza. MSF also calls for the blockade to be lifted and for people to regain unrestricted access to basic supplies and aid. Injured people and patients requiring urgent medical care should be allowed to seek care outside of Gaza, provided their right to a safe and dignified return is granted.”
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About Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is a global network of principled medical and other professionals who specialise in medical humanitarian work, driven by our common humanity and guided by medical ethics. We strive to bring emergency medical care to people caught in conflicts, crises, and disasters in more than 70 countries worldwide.
In South Africa, the organisation is recognised as one of the pioneers of providing Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) in the public sector and started the first HIV programmes in South Africa in 1999. Until today, the focus of MSF’s interventions in the country has primarily been on developing new testing and treatment strategies for HIV/AIDS and TB in Eshowe (Kwa-Zulu Natal) and Khayelitsha (Western Cape).
In Tshwane, we run a migration project, and we offer medical and psychosocial care to migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, who struggle to access public health services under South Africa’s increasingly restrictive.
Previously we offered free, high-quality, confidential medical care to survivors of SGBV in Rustenburg.
To learn more about our work in South Africa, please visit this page on our website (www.msf.org.za). To support MSF’s work:
- SMS “JOIN” to 42110 to donate R30 Once-off
- Visit https://www.msf.org.za/donate