Gaza and Jenin: Updates from the weekend 18/19 November 2023

Attack on health care in Jenin, WestBank

In the early hours of 17 November, Israeli forces surrounded hospitals across Jenin, including MSF supported Khalil Suleiman Hospital, while the military forces were conducting incursions into a refugee camp in the city. Explosion and shooting were heard from the hospital compound. ?

MSF teams inside the emergency room of Khalil Suleiman Hospital was unable to receive and treat any casualties from the camp, as ambulances were blocked by Israeli forces.

Around 6 AM, Israeli forces ordered through megaphones everyone inside the hospital to come out; the staff did not leave the hospital out of fear. They then withdrew an hour later.

"Attacks on healthcare personnel and facilities have become a routine across the West Bank, and intensified since 7 October. Healthcare workers are regularly being attacked by the Israeli military while ambulances cannot move freely to reach injured and ill. These attacks must stop now," says Renzo Fricke, an MSF Head of Mission in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

MSF condemns deliberate attack on a convoy transporting staff, resulting in one death and one injury

On 18 November 2023, a relative of an MSF staff member died and another one was injured in an attack on an MSF convoy trying to evacuate 137 people - MSF Palestinian staff members and their families. They were trapped for a week in MSF premises located near Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. MSF condemns in the strongest terms this deliberate attack.?

On 18 November, at 9:00 am local time, an MSF convoy composed of five cars, all clearly marked with MSF identification, including on the cars’ roofs, with 137 people, composed of MSF Palestinian staff members and families, among them 65 children, left the MSF premises (guesthouse, office, outpatient clinic located near Al-Shifa hospital) heading southern Gaza for a safer place. Since 11 November, they have been trapped under fire because of ongoing fighting and since then, MSF has repeatedly called to safely evacuate them. ?

MSF had informed both parties to the conflict of this movement. The convoy went through the itinerary indicated by the Israeli army and reached Salah Al Deen street, along with other civilians trying to leave the area.

The convoy reached the last checkpoint near Wadi Gaza, which was overcrowded at that time due to extensive screenings of Palestinians by Israeli forces. Despite the information shared with the Israeli army, they weren’t allowed to cross the checkpoint for hours. Shots were later heard by our staff, pushing them to turn back out of fear and to head back to MSF premises, located around 7 km from the checkpoint.

On their way back, between 3:30 pm and 4:00 pm local time, the convoy was attacked in Al-Wehda street near the junction of Said Al A’as Street, near the MSF office. Two of the MSF cars were deliberately hit, killing one MSF staff’s family member and injuring another.

MSF calls again to urgently allow the evacuation of our staff, as well as of thousands of other people, trapped by fighting and living in extremely dire conditions in northern Gaza.

We are calling for an immediate ceasefire, which is the only way for corridors to be implemented in order to safely evacuate trapped civilians.

Airstrike near Nasser hospital

On 18 November, following an Israeli airstrike about 1km away from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where MSF teams are working, 122 patients arrived at the hospital within minutes.?

While 70 people were dead upon arrival, dozens of injured, including many children, arrived in critical conditions with severe burns.?

In the burn unit, where MSF works, surgeons are doing around 10 burn surgeries a day. But the hospital is overflowing with hundreds of patients with burns who must wait to be operated.

“The medical needs are huge and MSF is ready to scale up its activities, but we need basic guarantees of safety and unrestricted access of medical and humanitarian supplies into Gaza. A ceasefire is a must, now more than ever, to stop the bloodshed that is happening,” says Christophe Garnier, an MSF Project Coordinator in southern Gaza.