Palestinians in Gaza living in a 'death trap', warns MSF

Israeli attacks are consistent with ethnic cleansing, the organisation says

A Palestinian man tries to extinguish a fire inside a house near Kamal Adwan hospital, in the northern Gaza Strip. Reuters

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Palestinians in Gaza are living in a “death trap”, with no way to flee the violence and subject to suspected war crimes as Israel's 14-month war against Hamas continues, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday.

Israel's offensive has so far killed more than 45,000 Palestinians and dismantled much of the enclave's infrastructure. The Israeli military launched its campaign after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, on October 7, last year.

“We are witnessing clear signs of ethnic cleansing as Palestinian life is being wiped off the area,” the strongly-worded report documenting atrocities in the Gaza Strip said. MSF claimed their observations of the violence inflicted on Gazans are consistent with descriptions provided by several organisations and legal experts concluding that “genocide” is taking place.

Since the Israeli troops entered Gaza, the Palestinian enclave has suffered constant Israeli air strikes, repeated displacement and the destruction of essential civilian infrastructure, including health centres. The closure of border crossings has also denied Gazans from the delivery of vital aid and an escape route.

MSF staff came under 41 attacks, including strikes, shelling, arbitrary detention and direct fire on shelters or convoys, while eight staff members and their family members were killed, the report added. Medical personnel and patients have also had to flee health centres 17 times “often literally running for their lives”.

Since the start of the war, Israeli troops have blocked the entry of essential items such as food, fuel, water and medical supplies, MSF and several other rights groups have said. The shortages have led to the shutdown of hospitals and as of mid-October, only 17 of Gaza's 36 hospitals were partially functioning, the report said. MSF teams also had to carry out surgeries without sufficient anaesthesia, it added.

In a separate report released on Thursday, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing "acts of genocide" by weaponising and damaging water supplies in Gaza in a "systematic nature."

“Between October 2023 and September 2024, Israeli authorities’ actions have deprived the majority of the more than two million Palestinians living in Gaza of access to even bare minimum [15 litres per person per day] of water, which has contributed to death and widespread disease,” the report said. The group called on the international community to impose sanctions on Israel, including for the alleged war crime of extermination.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused the group of “spreading its blood labels” and that the report is “full of lies that are appalling even when compared to HRW’s already low standards." Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations of genocide.

The majority of Gaza's 2.1 million population has been displaced – many of them several times – throughout the war. Countless Israeli forced displacement orders have pushed Palestinians into crammed makeshift tents where living conditions make hygiene difficult and life unbearable, particularly during the winter. MSF said it observed skin diseases, respiratory infections and diarrhoea cases among civilians.

Northern Gaza has been under Israeli siege and intense bombardment since early October, with some areas being completely evicted. MSF said the military offensive there was a “clear illustration of the brutal war the Israeli forces are waging on Gaza”.

Ceasefire efforts are under way, with some parties to the negotiations claiming a truce is within reach. However, even if fighting were to end, MSF warns its “long-term impact would be unprecedented” given the scale of destruction in addition to the mental and physical toll the war has taken on Palestinians in Gaza.

The latest reports and accusations of Israel committing genocide in Gaza come just two weeks after Amnesty International said there was "unequivocal" evidence the Israeli army was committing genocidal acts in the enclave.