The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called on Israel on Saturday to “show humanity” in its military operations in the Gaza Strip, saying the situation was “as absurd as it is unbearable.”
• Also read: LIVE | Day 8 of the Israel-Hamas war
• Also read: Israel continues to call for the evacuation of Palestinians from the north, but is giving it some time
• Also read: Demonstration in Montreal: “Israeli terrorist, Trudeau complicit!” -Adil Charkaoui
“While the Israeli army has been unrestrainedly bombing the Gaza Strip for a week, we now call on them to show the highest level of humanity,” said Doctors Without Borders France President Isabelle Defourny in a press release.
“We are extremely concerned about the fate of the people who were unable to travel, such as the wounded, the sick, the carers, and whose destruction we must fear given the statements of the Israeli military authorities,” she said.
Israel urged Palestinians on Saturday “not to delay” the evacuation of northern Gaza and proposed a ground offensive after a week of war sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented deadly attack that has already claimed thousands of lives.
The president of Doctors Without Borders France also demanded that residents be allowed to leave the besieged and blockaded Palestinian enclave to seek refuge in neighboring Egypt.
“The injunction on nearly 1.1 million people to move within hours to an area that is already overpopulated and has precarious access to food, water and health care is as absurd as it is intolerable,” he said, the president argued by Doctors Without Borders France.
The organization called for the maintenance of security zones in the north and the establishment of regular ceasefires.
“We also demand that people who want to flee can do so through the Rafah border crossing,” she emphasized.
Rafah is the only border crossing in Gaza not under Israeli control, but passage into Egypt is often complicated by closures and the need to obtain multiple permits.
The border crossing was closed in recent days after Israeli airstrikes hit the Palestinian side.
Doctors Without Borders said many of its teams in Gaza had been moved to the south of the territory.