Conditions for medics and patients in Gaza remain dire despite a nearly two-month truce, the head of Doctors Without Borders warned in an interview. He said Israel and Hamas agreed in October to a US-backed deal to boost aid deliveries, yet little has changed on the ground.
Javid Abdelmoneim described Gaza’s hospitals as overwhelmed and under-resourced, with medical teams forced to work with inferior supplies and outdated protocols. He said the truce amounted only to a “ceasefire of sorts”, noting that dozens of Palestinians continue to be killed daily despite the agreement.
Local health officials say 376 Palestinians have died since the truce began, along with three Israeli soldiers. Abdelmoneim said emergency rooms remain crowded with injured civilians as aid agencies struggle for access through routes still restricted by Israel.
He accused Israeli authorities of “weaponising” humanitarian assistance by allowing insufficient supplies to enter the besieged territory. He said MSF staff concluded in 2024 that genocide was under way in Gaza, a claim Israel rejected as fabricated.
Abdelmoneim said the destruction of hospitals and shortages of medicine have pushed Gaza’s healthcare system to “substandard” levels with rising complications and infection rates. He also raised alarms over worsening violence in Sudan after the Rapid Support Forces seized El-Fasher, where reports emerged of atrocities against civilians and medical workers.
The World Health Organization reported that more than 460 people were killed inside a maternity hospital during the takeover, with health workers abducted. A drone strike days later hit a nursery and a hospital in South Kordofan, killing dozens including children.
Abdelmoneim urged all factions to grant medical teams freedom, protection and access as Sudan edges deeper into crisis. He said MSF teams in Sudan and Chad are hearing “harrowing” accounts of sexual violence, ethnic targeting, extortion and famine-like conditions among displaced communities. He backed calls for an independent investigation into alleged abuses in and around El-Fasher, saying survivors report family members detained and never seen again.