Doctors Without Borders says halting operations in Gaza City

The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) health charity has decided to suspend medical activities in Gaza City amid the advance of Israeli forces, MSF said in a statement.

"We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities, as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces," Jacob Granger, MSF Emergency Coordinator in Gaza, said, as quoted in MSF’s Friday release, reported Sputnik/RIA Novosti.

Granger emphasised that the needs in Gaza City are "enormous," and infants in neo-natal care, as well as Palestinians with severe injuries and life-threatening illnesses, are in grave danger amid the rapidly deteriorating security situation.

"The situation includes continued airstrikes and advancing tanks less than 1km from our healthcare facilities. The escalating attacks from Israeli forces have created an unacceptable level of risk for our staff, forcing us to suspend lifesaving medical activities," MSF said in its statement.

MSF called for an immediate halt to the violence and concrete measures to protect civilians and guarantee unhindered access and security for humanitarian organisations operating in Gaza City.

On Aug 22, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) confirmed catastrophic levels of famine in the Gaza Strip for the first time since the conflict escalated in October 2023.

According to the UN Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), there are five phases of malnutrition, with phases from three to five marking severe food deprivation.

The latest analysis showed that the conditions in the Gaza Strip are sufficient to declare the most extreme category of famine, the WFP said.

By the end of September, more than 640,000 people across the Palestinian enclave will face catastrophic levels of food insecurity, classified as IPC Phase 5.

The humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip has worsened after Israel refused to work with the UN Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA, which had been responsible for supplying aid to the Palestinians for decades.

Several hundred UNRWA aid distribution centres have been closed and replaced by four centres run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund. Israeli troops routinely open fire at Palestinians queuing for aid, Gaza authorities said.

- Bernama

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