Doctors Without Borders describes a “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Gaza and calls for a ceasefire
The organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Doctors Without Borders described a “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in the area, which is dominated by “total war,” according to the organization’s director, Claire Magone. “The population is bloodless and the rescuers are practically powerless. In the face of the massacre, a ceasefire is a vital emergency,” she said during a press conference at the organization’s headquarters in Paris. “Today there are only false signs of humanity and hesitant discussions,” she denounced, pointing to the “tactical pauses” discussed between Israel and Washington to allow humanitarian breathing space.
Doctors Without Borders, which employs around 300 Palestinian staff, was able to evacuate its 22 members living abroad a few days ago but hopes to hire a new team very quickly. “The situation in Gaza has been untenable from the start, no place is safe, it is a total war, a tragedy with no way out,” said Louis Baudoin-Laarman, Médecins Sans Frontières communications manager for Palestine, who was among the evacuees. He spoke of “the bombs falling everywhere,” the overcrowded UN camps where tens of thousands of displaced people are crammed together in catastrophic conditions. “To Khan Younes [sud de la bande de Gaza]“There were about 45,000 people, eight toilets and two hours of water every 12 hours,” he said.
Next to him, the head of the emergency aid program at Doctors Without Borders, Michel-Olivier Lacharité, spoke of the overload of the health system. “There are 3,500 beds in the Gaza Strip, including 2,000 in the north, while the number of wounded is 25,000, according to Gaza authorities,” he said. “Hospitals have traditionally been places of refuge in Gaza, that is no longer the case, there are no safe places left,” he continued. “Only a ceasefire can make it possible to organize aid and enable a humanitarian response,” he stressed, pointing out that in a month around 500 aid trucks crossed the Egyptian border into the Gaza Strip, while this number usually increases daily.