War in Middle East

Last updated: September 2026

This is not a ceasefire. Israeli forces continue to kill and injure Palestinians in Gaza, while the destruction of homes and infrastructure and repeated displacement continue. Since the ceasefire announcement on 10 October 2025, at least 1,300 Palestinians have reportedly been killed and more than 4,398 injured. A ceasefire should mean our emergency rooms are no longer filled with people wounded by war.  

MSF teams continue to treat patients suffering from blast injuries, fragment wounds, and blunt trauma caused by explosions and gunshot wounds. Since the beginning of 2026 our medical teams have treated over 60,000 trauma cases, including intentional physical violence cases. 

The destruction of homes has not stopped. Sudden and arbitrary orders for people to flee their homes and shelters continue to be used as a tool of psychological warfare by Israeli forces. Repeated displacement and lack of security have become defining features of life in Gaza. Nowhere is safe in Gaza.  

Across Gaza, MSF teams continue to see overwhelming levels of grief, anxiety, sleep disturbance and psychological distress in both adults and children. These symptoms continue to accumulate under ongoing airstrikes, displacement, and deteriorating living conditions. Some patients, including mothers, tell our teams they are experiencing suicidal thoughts, and we are receiving people who have had suicidal ideation or have attempted suicide in some of our health facilities. 

Israeli authorities continue to use water as a weapon against Palestinians. In the past year, water services have not been allowed to recover because the restrictions preventing recovery are still in place. The Israeli military has largely destroyed the water system yet Israeli authorities continue to restrict essential equipment and materials needed to repair or operate it. Even when supplies are available, the military continues restricting access to water facilities to conduct repairs. Israeli authorities are continuing to use water as a means of collective punishment against Palestinians, who are dependent on emergency water supplies that cannot meet their needs.  

In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israeli policies of settlement expansion, displacement, demolitions and movement restrictions have drastically escalated this year. Escalations in settler violence, killings and injuries, settlement expansion, more than 900 movement obstacles, military incursions and restrictions affecting access to healthcare. 

2026 marks a sharp escalation in settler violence, with incidents up 45 per cent in the first half of 2026 against the same period last year. Since the beginning of 2026, 79 Palestinians, including 19 children, have been killed and about 1,870 injured by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank. 

Gaza Strip

Our teams are offering surgical support, wound care, physiotherapy, maternity and paediatric care, general healthcare, vaccination, and mental health services as well as doing water production and distribution. Since January 2026 MSF produced 520 million litres of drinking water and distributed 490 million litres.

As of September 2026, MSF is running or supporting health services in 13 locations across north, south and central Gaza. MSF currently supports two public hospitals: Nasser and Al Helou. We have recently returned to the maternity ward at Nasser hospital. MSF runs one field hospital and co manages another one in central Deir Al-Balah area with the Ministry of Health which was set up as a joint project, while supporting four general healthcare centres and working in five clinics in addition to four medical points. 

West Bank

In Nablus and Hebron, MSF teams are providing psychosocial support, care for sexual and gender-based violence, trainings (psychological, emergency and first response). 

In Hebron we run eight mobile clinics providing general healthcare, SRH and mental health support, and run rapid responses for incidents such as home demolitions, injuries, or attacks on the water and sanitation system. 

Jenin and Tulkarem activities have closed as of May 2026.