AhlulBayt News Agency: The president of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has warned that medical conditions in Gaza remain “as hard as they’ve ever been,” as a fragile ceasefire has failed to ease the territory’s humanitarian collapse.
Javid Abdelmoneim, who served as a doctor in Gaza in 2024, made the remarks on Sunday at the annual Doha Forum, noting that medical teams continue to work under extreme shortages and unsafe conditions.
He explained, “While we’re able to carry out operations, deliveries, and wound care, the protocols, materials, and drugs being used are inferior and below standard. This results in substandard care being delivered.”
Abdelmoneim emphasized that the current pause is little more than “a ceasefire of sorts,” pointing out that “several to dozens of Palestinians” are still being killed daily by Israel.
Israel and Hamas agreed in October to a US-backed truce aimed at increasing the flow of aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by nearly two years of Israel’s war.
Despite the ceasefire, violence has persisted; at least 376 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks and airstrikes across Gaza since October 10.
“We are seeing injured patients in the emergency rooms where we work throughout the strip,” Abdelmoneim said.
Aid organizations continue to demand expanded access for humanitarian convoys, while Israel has rejected calls to allow relief shipments through the Rafah crossing with Egypt.
Abdelmoneim noted that since the truce began, aid “hasn’t come in to the level that’s necessary.”
He further stated that the severe shortage of medical supplies and the destruction of hospitals across Gaza have left healthcare fundamentally inadequate.
“These two factors together mean higher infection rates, longer hospital stays, and greater risks of complications. The care being delivered is substandard,” he said.
He added that Israel continues to weaponize humanitarian aid. “There hasn’t been a substantial change, and aid is being used as a tool of war. As far as we’re concerned, this is an ongoing feature of the genocide. Humanitarian aid should never be used as a bargaining chip,” the MSF chief said.
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