The international humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, or MSF) is calling for a massive scale-up of life-saving assistance and unhindered humanitarian access amid the ongoing catastrophe in Gaza, where lives continue to be lost due to sustained violence and persistent aid restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities. Despite the March 1 deadline for 37 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to leave the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT, Palestine), MSF affirms its commitment to staying and providing assistance.
According to international humanitarian law, Israeli authorities, as the occupying power, are obligated to ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance. However, new restrictive rules requiring 37 NGOs to leave the OPT by Sunday threaten to drastically reduce the already insufficient aid.
MSF is calling on governments worldwide to ensure that International Court of Justice (ICJ) decisions are respected, including facilitating the provision of humanitarian assistance.
“MSF is working to preserve services for patients in an increasingly constrained environment,” said Christopher Lockyear, MSF Secretary General, in a statement on Friday.
“The needs are immense and drastic restrictions have deadly consequences. Hundreds of thousands of patients need medical and mental health care, and tens of thousands require long-term medical, surgical and psychological follow-up.”
Despite the existence of a US-led peace plan, Israeli authorities continue to severely restrict access to water, shelter, and medical care. Living conditions remain undignified, and Palestinians continue to be killed or injured by ongoing violence on a daily basis.
In recent weeks, the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza has significantly declined. Meanwhile, in the West Bank, medical and humanitarian needs continue to escalate amid alarming increases in violence, forced displacement, armed settler attacks, home demolitions, settlement expansion, and obstruction to healthcare.
MSF's deregistration with the Israeli government is already impacting patient care, compounding the strain on a health system that has been devastated over the past two years and constrained by persistent restrictions on essential medical equipment and supplies.
Since January, Israeli authorities have prevented the medical humanitarian organization from bringing international staff and supplies into the OPT. By March 1, all of MSF’s international staff will be forced to leave the territory.
MSF's medical programs are already experiencing shortages, and its medical teams are particularly concerned about their ability to continue providing emergency trauma care, rehabilitation services, pediatric care, sexual and reproductive health services, and care for noncommunicable diseases and psychiatric conditions.
“MSF’s programs are critical lifelines. Medical care and humanitarian assistance on this scale cannot easily be replaced,” Lockyear said.
“Amid [the] ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, MSF will stay in Palestine for as long as possible, doing as much as we can. We call on the Israeli authorities to enable humanitarian aid at scale and on the international community to ensure Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are not abandoned to their fate.”
The new restrictive registration requirements, which are being used as a pretext to obstruct assistance, coincide with a coordinated global campaign of online attacks targeting MSF that is being promoted by the Israeli government.
“A delegitimization campaign, grounded in false and unsubstantiated allegations, is designed to discredit MSF, silence the organization’s voice, and obstruct the provision of healthcare,” the MSF Secretary General said.
“In a context where international journalists are barred and Palestinian journalists are regularly killed, further reducing NGO access risks removing yet another layer of witnesses to the ongoing violence and its enduring impacts on people.”
Despite Israeli impediments, UN aid agencies and NGOs continue to provide aid
In the face of continued Israeli impediments, UN aid agencies and NGOs remain committed to providing aid. They reiterate that much more life-saving assistance could reach people across the Gaza Strip if these impediments were lifted.
On the health side, humanitarian workers report seeing more people living with disabilities. Many have received amputations, while some have suffered spinal cord and brain trauma. Since the ceasefire began, hundreds of people have sustained traumatic injuries.
These patients face challenges under an already fragile health system, especially since the entry of prosthetics and other essential assistive devices remains heavily restricted. Aid agencies continue to call for impediments to be lifted so they can scale up assistance.
Since the ceasefire, the World Health Organization (WHO) has facilitated the evacuation of more than 740 patients, including 432 children, through the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings. However, 18,500 patients, including 4,000 children, still urgently need medical evacuation for specialized treatment unavailable in Gaza.
To reduce reliance on evacuations, WHO continues to call for the rehabilitation and rebuilding of Gaza’s health system. This includes allowing more medical supplies into Gaza, restoring damaged facilities, and expanding essential services.
In February, at least 200,000 families — nearly one million people — received food rations from aid agencies working on food security. Additionally, more than 1.7 million meals were prepared in over 180 community kitchens across Gaza, and free bread was delivered to over 400 shelters and displacement sites.
However, food rations were cut in half in February, largely due to insufficient supplies in Gaza. Around two-thirds of the aid trucks coming through the Egyptian corridor were sent back this month.
Regarding food security, humanitarian organizations report that families have averaged two meals per day this month, compared to one meal per day in July of 2025. While this is an improvement, one in five households still only has one meal per day. Many families report that they cannot afford food and other essential goods.
Atrocity crimes remain unpunished while the human-made disaster continues
According to a report presented Thursday by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), the situation in the OPT still constitutes a “human-made disaster” marked by widespread human rights violations.
The report details events from November 1, 2024, to October 31, 2025. It shows Israel’s disregard for human rights in Gaza and the West Bank and serious violations committed by Palestinian armed groups.
"The situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is a human-made disaster," Türk told representatives of member states at the HRC session in Geneva, though he acknowledged that the October 2025 ceasefire brought some degree of relief.
"But we must not mistake this for peace or safety. People are still dying in Gaza from Israeli fire, cold, hunger, and treatable diseases and injuries," said the UN human rights chief.
Since the ceasefire, Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed over 600 people and injured over 1,600 more, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Türk stated that anywhere else, this would be considered a major crisis.
The High Commissioner also deplored Israel’s decision last year to suspend 37 aid groups in Gaza, as well as its ban on operations by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the demolition of its premises in East Jerusalem, all of which are in blatant violation of international law.
Addressing the HRC in Geneva, Türk outlined a pattern of gross violations and abuses of human rights, serious violations of international humanitarian law, and atrocity crimes that remain unpunished. He said that Israel’s continued attacks on residential buildings and makeshift tents have destroyed entire neighborhoods and caused mass civilian deaths.
“More than 25,500 Palestinians were killed, including entire families, and more than 68,800 were injured during the reporting period,” he said.
“Among those killed were many Palestinian journalists. My Office has verified that 292 were killed in Israeli operations since October 7, 2023.”
Israel’s militarization of humanitarian aid through the Gaza “Humanitarian” Foundation (GHF) also led to large-scale killings. Between late May and early October 2025, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) recorded the deaths of 2,435 Palestinians, mostly young men and boys, at the hands of the Israeli military near food collection points.
In August 2025, famine was declared in Gaza, affecting more than half a million people. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 463 Palestinians, including 157 children, have died from starvation. The UN human rights chief said this was the direct result of Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid and other deliberate actions.
“Israeli forces continued to kill humanitarian and medical personnel during this period, and to make mass arrests of Palestinians across Gaza and the West Bank,” said Türk. “These arrests often amounted to arbitrary detention and included enforced disappearances.”
Since October 7, 2023, OHCHR has verified that at least 89 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody. According to Türk, the torture and mistreatment of Palestinians in Israeli detention remains widespread.
The High Commissioner noted that, throughout 2025, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups held hostages, which was a blatant violation of international law. Of the hostages seized on October 7, 2023, 51 were returned to their communities. Upon their release, the hostages recounted their traumatic experiences, which included sexual and gender-based violence, torture, beatings, and prolonged confinement underground.
In June, reports emerged that armed men allegedly affiliated with Hamas had summarily executed 12 Palestinians associated with the GHF.
Israel's unlawful actions in the West Bank
The UN High Commissioner stated that the situation in the West Bank is particularly disturbing.
“In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli security forces continued to launch airstrikes and use unlawful force, killing hundreds of Palestinians. In January 2025, Israeli forces launched Operation Iron Wall in the northern West Bank, which is still ongoing. So far, they have forced 32,000 Palestinians from their homes,” Türk said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian security forces have used unnecessary or disproportionate force, resulting in the unlawful killing of at least eight Palestinians. They also arbitrarily detained and mistreated more than 300 Palestinians.
“Recent Israeli measures expanding land expropriation consolidate the annexation of Palestinian territory. This is in flagrant breach of the Palestinian right to self-determination,” he said.
Israeli security forces have continued to use unnecessary and disproportionate force and have killed 1,020 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, according to figures verified by OHCHR.
“Taken together, Israel’s actions appear aimed at making a permanent demographic change in Gaza and the West Bank, raising concerns about ethnic cleansing,” Türk said.
“The absence of accountability for the egregious violations committed is nothing short of shameful.”
Committing the worst crimes known to humanity with impunity
For more than 28 months, the Gaza Strip has been ravaged by an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. People continue to die from widespread violence, disease, hunger, and a lack of basic resources.
The United Nations, humanitarian organizations, and human rights groups emphasize that Israel is deliberately failing to provide the relief required by international law, and continues to prevent necessary supplies from reaching Gaza's civilian population at scale.
Since October 2023, over 240,000 Palestinians, primarily civilians, have been killed, injured, or maimed in Israeli military operations. The recorded death toll exceeds 72,000, including over 20,000 children. The overall number of injuries surpasses 171,700. However, the actual number of casualties is believed to be much higher.
According to UN commissions, international and Israeli human rights organizations, human rights experts, and leading genocide scholars, Israel's actions in Gaza—including obstructing humanitarian aid—not only meet the legal definitions of war crimes and crimes against humanity but also amount to genocide against Gaza's population.