The ceasefire is not the end of the extreme suffering in Gaza: Palestinians need immediate aid and medical evacuations

With medical evacuations from Gaza set to resume on 22 October following a suspension since 29 September, MSF is urging governments around the world to save lives by urgently and drastically increasing this vital lifeline. Israeli authorities must allow patients to leave to access the treatment they need, and ensure their right of return to Gaza.

“Palestinians in Gaza are enduring genocide. The health system lies in ruins,” says Dr Javid Abdelmoneim, International President of MSF and an emergency doctor who has worked in Gaza.

Israeli forces attacked hospitals, reducing them to rubble; killed, detained and forcibly displaced medical staff; and systematically blocked supplies from entering the Strip.”

As of October 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that over 15,600 people – one in four of whom are children – are awaiting lifesaving medical evacuation from Gaza. 

Patients include those with complex trauma injuries caused by bullets and bombs, or life-threatening and chronic conditions such as cancer or kidney failure. 

“These patients cannot wait for the healthcare system to be rebuilt – they need urgent care today,” says Dr Abdelmoneim.

 “Between July 2024 and August 2025, at least 740 patients, including 137 children, died while waiting for medical evacuation. These were preventable deaths - caused not only by destroyed hospitals, but by political inaction.”

Even though thousands of patients are still waiting, Luxembourg has so far accepted only 2 people for medical evacuation from Gaza.

In an open letter addressed to heads of state, Dr Abdelmoneim, warns that the ceasefire alone will not end the ongoing medical and humanitarian catastrophe that Palestinians are enduring.

While more humanitarian assistance is starting to arrive, MSF is calling for it to be rapidly scaled up – including medical supplies, fuel, clean water, food, and shelter – to meet the staggering needs of two million people, many of whom are returning to the ruins of their former homes with winter fast approaching.

As of October 2025, the WHO has confirmed that only 14 out of Gaza's 36 health facilities were even partly functioning. None are fully operational following systematic and direct Israeli attacks, including ground offensives, tank shells, and airstrikes.

According to the Ministry of Health, 1,722 health workers have been killed. Just a week before the ceasefire, two MSF colleagues – an occupational therapist and a physiotherapist - were killed by an Israeli airstrike while on their way to work. In total, 15 MSF colleagues were killed in the past two years. 

An MSF orthopedic surgeon, Dr Mohammed Obeid, has been detained in harsh conditions since October 2024. We are urgently appealing for his release. The loss of health professionals is devastating for patients in Gaza. 

While some countries such as Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye and Jordan have carried their share of the responsibility, others have done almost nothing,” says Dr Abdelmoneim. 

“This inaction is indefensible”

To underscore the scale of this inaction, MSF has published a ‘Medical Evacuation Leaderboard’, comparing countries’ efforts to facilitate patient evacuations from Gaza. The data reveals a stark imbalance: while a handful of countries have accepted thousands of patients, many governments who have the capacity to do more have accepted few patients, or none at all.